DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1922. No. 2 



ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS 
IN THE SMALLER CITIES 



By 



W. S, DEFFENBAUGH 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1922 



Uonognf^ 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1922, No. 2 



ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS 
IN THE SMALLER CITIES 



By 



W. S. DEFFENBAUGH 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1922 



(^y^■ 



,13 ^2-^ 



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POOUMSNTS DIVISION 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Introduction 1 

The school board : 

Method of choosing board members 1 

Size of school boards 2 

Length of term 3 

When elected 4 

Qualifications 4 

The paid board 5 

Territory from which elected or appointed 5 

City boards of education as provided by State law 7 

Duties of the school board 8 

Selection of a superintendent 10 

Consideration of the annual budget 12 

Providing buildings and playgrounds 13 

Issuing bonds 16 

Relation of school board to city officials 19 

Board meetings 22 

Organization of school board 23 

The president 23 

The secretary or clerk 24 

The treasurer 25 

Committees 26 

The superintendent : 

Relations 27 

Powers and duties_l-I_l---l, 28 

Qualifications 40 

Tenure 43 

The teacher : 

Salary schedule anc| promotion of teachers — _: 44 

Salary for sick les.veri---::'----^- — _'______irL^. 50 

Tenure 50 

Eliminating the inefficient teacher 51 

Preparation of teachers 53 

Selection of teachers _ 54 

Rules and regulations regarding teachers 55 

Retirement fund 56 

The substitute teacher 56 

The teacher as an adviser 57 

Supervision of instruction 58 

Grading and promotion of pupils 60 

Rate of promotion 63 

The examination 65 

Accounting, records, and reports 67 

ni 



ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN THE 
SMALLER CITIES. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The demand for Bulletin, 1915, No. 44, School Administration in the Smaller 
Cities, having been so great that the supply was soon exhausted, and the de- 
mand for it stiii being great, a new bulletin regarding the administration of 
schools in the smaller cities has been prepared. The information contained 
in it was collected by means of a questionnaire, to which about 520 superin- 
tendents in cities of from 5,000 to 30,000 population replied. The aim has been 
to present not only the data collected but also certain well-established princi- 
ples of school administration. 

THE SCHOOL BOARD. 

METHOD OF CHOOSING BOARD MEMBERS. 

The usual method of choosing school board members is election at large. In 
417, or 80.8 per cent, of the 516 cities reporting, the board is elected by the 
people; and in 99, or 19.2 per cent, it is appointed by the mayor, city council, 
or commission. Of the 99 boards appointed, 32 are appointed by the mayor 
and 67 by the council or commission. Most of the States having general laws 
regarding the method of choosing city school boards provide for election by the 
people. (See p. 7.) 

Students of school administration almost without exception favor an elec- 
tive board, especially in the smaller cities. They say that appointment by the 
mayor or city council places the schools too far away from the people, and 
that the people take more interest in the schools if they elect the board. It is 
pointed out that in some cities where boards are appointed the mayor or the 
members of the city council control the schools to a very great degree, so that 
anyone seeking an appointment or a contract needs only to obtain the approval 
of the mayor or the members of the council. In brief, an appointive board is 
too often the tool of the mayor or council, many tim^s not working for the inter- 
est of the schools but for the interest of party. If the council appoints, there 
is temptation on the part of its individual members to dictate policies to the 
school board and to influence it to elect such janitors and teachers as they may 
suggest. In other words, appointment by either the mayor or city council tends 
to entangle the schools in petty city and ward politics. 

It is recognized, however, that whatever method is employed in selecting 
board members, objectionable political methods may be and will be used until 
the people really demand efficient management of their schools by their repre- 
sentatives. The people can demand this from either an elective or an appointive 
board, but they can best demand efficiency from a board they themselves elect 

1 



2 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

SIZE OF SCHOOL BOARDS. 

Comparatively few of the 516 smaller cities reporting have boards of educa- 
tion of more than 7 members each, as may be seen from the following : 

Distribution of cities according to size of school hoard. 



Number of board members. 


Cities re- 
porting 

that 
number. 


Per cent 
of total. 


Number of board members. 


Cities re- 
porting 

that 
number. 


Per cent 
of total. 


3 


61 
4 
129 
96 
151 
7 
43 


11.8 

.8 

25.0 

18.6 

29.2 

1.4 

8.4 


10 


8 
3 
7 
2 
2 
1 
1 


1.6 


4 


11 


.6 


5 


12 . . 


1.4 


6 


13 


.4 


7 . . 


14 


.4 


g 


16. .. 


.2 


9 


18 


.2 









Practically all of the cities having boards of more than seven members are 
those governed by special law or special charter. For general State laws gov- 
erning the size of city boards of education see page 7. 

The small board has become so nearly general, and its efficiency compared 
with a large board so clearly demonstrated, that it is scarcely necessary to dis- 
cuss this phase of school administration. 

The following testimony of several school board members who have served 
on large and on small boards may, however, be interesting : 

In a board of 5 members the consent of 3 is necessary to do business and is 
reasonably safe. With no more than 7 on the board, business can be transacted 
with dispatch. 

About 8 years' experience as a school-board member has shown me that 5 
members can do all the work and have the interest of the schools at heart. 
Responsibility is centralized, and men respond to it more readily. 

A board with fewer than 5 members is likely to be controlled by one man. 
A larger one is cumbersome. 

A small board increases personal responsibility of members. 

In our city we had until recently a board of 22 members. Now we have a 
board of 9 members. I favor a board of this size from the fact that every 
member comes in closer contact with the actual work of the district, learns 
the work better, and gets to know the needs of the district, while under the 
old board of 22 members the work was done by a few committees, and unless a 
member happened to be on a committee he did not know much about what was 
going on, and then there was a tendency to become a drone. 

In this State we have had a practical demonstration of the difference in 
efficiency between the large and the small board. Previous to the adoption of 
the new school code in this State the board in this town consisted of 12 mem- 
bers, but now consists of only 7 members. Formerly it was very difficult to 
transact business at times, there being so many different opinions to thrash out, 
resulting in much useless argument and prolonging meetings into the late hours 
of the night, thereby causing the members to feel that it was a hardship, rather 
than a pleasure, to attend the meetings. We now transact our business in less 
than half the time, very seldom being in session after 9 p. m. There seems to 
be a better working spirit, and as a whole I believe the small board to be a 
vast improvement over the large one. 

All the school survey reports advocate small school boards. For instance, the 
Salt Lake City survey report recommends that the board of education in that 
city be reduced from 10 to 5 members. The reasons for the recommendation are : 



THE SCHOOL BOAED. 3 

A board of 5, one that could meet in a smaller room and around a single table, 
and with more board and less committee action, would handle the educational 
business more quickly, more expeditiously, and more efficiently than a board 
of 10 members, and with fewer conflicts with its executive officers and fewer 
reversals of action. A larue board almost always leads to unnecessary discus- 
sion, and often has to reverse itself. 

An argument sometimes advanced in favor of a large school board is that a 
board should be representative of the many points of view and of the defferent 
vocational and social classes. On this point the school survey report of South 
Bend, Ind., makes clear the absurdity of such arguments, saying: 

As a matter of fact, even a large board of 12 or 15 members can personally 
represent but a few of the many social and vocational classes in the community. 
The way to take care of the many points of view is not to fill up the board with 
a large number of men ; it is rather to choose carefully a very few men of 
sound judgment who know the community and the needs of the community, 
and whose business or other affiliations are not such as to limit their inde- 
pendence of judgment. These men can then at open meetings hear the claims 
of every interested class. 

No one can say with absolute certainty that a board of 5 is more efficient 
than a board of 7 members, but on the whole the smaller number can well serve 
any of the smaller cities. In fact, some very efficient city school systems are 
administered by boards of only 3 members. 

LENGTH OF TERM. 

Of 516 cities reporting, 25 elect school-board members for a term of two 
years, 293 for a term of three years, 77 for a term of four years, 36 for a term 
of five years, 82 for a term of six years, and 3 for a term of seven years. For 
State laws governing the subject see page 7. 

In a few cities the terms of all the board members expire at the same time. 
This means that a new board may come into force knowing nothing about the 
schools or about the policies inaugurated by former boards, which policies it 
may be highly desirable to retain. Under the plan of entire renewal it is too 
easy for a new board unwittingly and through ignorance of conditions to allow 
good policies to lapse which have been inaugurated only after strenuous en- 
deavor. Furthermore, the school corps is always uncertain as to a continuation 
of policies already entered upon. 

A long term with partial renewal usually means a settled administrative policy. 
A short term often fails to afford board members an opportunity to work out 
some necessary reform. On the whole, the length of term should be five years 
for boards composed of 5 members and six or seven years for boards composed 
of 7 members. 

The school survey reports making recommendations regarding the tenure of 
board members would have the term of office from four to seven years, with one 
member retiring each year, or at least not more than two members retiring at a 
time. 

The Leavenworth, Kans., school survey staff says in regard to the tenure of 
board members: 

Frequent elections under the old system (2-year term) led to many short 
terms and consequently to a lack of the necessary continuity of service to 
produce high efficiency. The new method of election for four years is sure to 
work a helpful reform along this line. 

There are two weaknesses inseparable from short terms in public service cor- 
porations. One is that the duties required are so complex that the novice may 
assume little responsibility and become a figurehead. The other is a far more 
serious danger. It is generally recognized that in a democracy like ours the 



4 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

most dangerous man, whether in politics, religion, business, or the schools, is a 
man with convictions and no knowledge. This applies especially m reform 
movements, churches, and schools, where every one has pretty clearly defined 
feelings and convictions. 

WHEN ELECTED. 

School boards are elected at a special election for school-board members or at 
the regular city, county, or State election. Of 517 cities reporting, 178 elect 
board members at a special election. In some of the 178 cities holding special 
school elections other school matters are voted upon at the same time, such as 
the school budget or the issuance of school bonds. 

The advantages claimed for this plan are that school-board members are 
more likely to be elected without regard to political parties ; that the electors 
exercise more care in voting for a candidate at a special election than at the 
regular election, where city, county, and State officials are given more con-' 
sideration than school officials; and that a special election fixes the attention 
of the people upon their schools. On the other hand, it is claimed that since 
only one or two school-board members are elected at a time it is poor economy 
to hold a special election ; that only a few of the people vote at a special elec- 
tion ; and that equally as good men may be secured if voted for at a general 
election, esi>ecially if they have been nominated by petition and voted for on a 
separate ballot without designation as to party. 

It seems, however, that the schools are of such importance that a city can 
well afford to hold a special election once a year to elect school-board members 
and to vote upon such other school matters as require a vote of the people. 
The expense would be practically negligible if the school buildings were utilized 
for election purposes, especially for school elections. The argument that only a 
few persons vote at a special election may be passed by with the remark that 
the voting at least is not as perfunctory as at general elections. At least, all 
who do vote are interested. 



QUALIFICATIONS. 

The qualifications required of school-board members vary so greatly in the 
different States that no general statement can be made as to what the qualifi- 
cations are. Among the many may be mentioned : " Taxpayer," " citizen," " not 
a holder of another public office," " good moral character," " patron of the 
school," '* resident of the city for a specified time," " able to read and write." 

The question is sometimes asked. What vocations should have the largest 
representation on boards of education? No one can say with any degree of 
certainty that a board should be composed of so many lawyers, ministers, phy- 
sicians, bankers, grocers, and laboring men. The claim is that the different 
vocations should be represented so as to make the board as cosmopolitan as 
possible ; that a board composed of men representing the different vocations will 
insure a better-balanced administration than a board composed almost entirely 
of physicians, lawyers, or bankers. In general, it is true that a board of edu- 
cation should not be made up almost entirely of members of any one vocation, 
yet this matter should be given only secondary thought. 

The thought has often been expressed that there should be an educational 
test for board members. Some persons would have as a standard graduation 
from high school or college. Men and women who have been graduated from 
high school or college should make the best school-board members, for they 
should be more conversant with school conditions ; but many men who have 
not had the advantage of high schools or colleges are most ardent sup- 



THE SCHOOL BOARD. 5 

porters of progressive schools, while sometimes men and women who gradu- 
ated from high school or college years ago have no conception whatever of 
modern educational demands. Old-time college men and women on boards of 
education may mean a city school system completely out of touch with life. In 
brief, the chief qualification for school-board membership should be business 
sense, a desire to improve the schools, and a willingness to hand over the actual 
running of the schools to paid experts. Only men and women should be elected 
who have vision and who are willing to recognize that their function is to 
formulate and to adopt policies to be carried out by the superintendent and his 
assistanja. 

THE PAID BOARD. 

Fortunately in none of the smaller cities is there what may be termed a 
salaried board of education. In some cities there is a small fee of $50 or 
$100 a year. Though no student of school administration would think of 
advocating a paid board, occasionally some layman takes it upon himself to 
advocate paying board members a salary. Only recently a former prominent 
board member publicly advocated that the school board in his city should be 
com'posed of three members and paid a salary so that they could devote all their 
time to the schools. This would have placed the management of public educa- 
tion in that city in the hands of laymen, whereas it belongs to experts. 

Undoubtedly the feeling that boards of education should not be paid even a 
nominal fee is based upon the belief that the services of a higher type of citizen 
can ordinarily be secured if no pay is given. Even the paying of but a nominal 
fee attracts some persons who but for it would not be interested in the work 
of the board. Obviously, persons who have no more interest in the schools than 
this should not be permitted to become board members. Experience shows that 
the public-spirited citizen who has the welfare of the schools at heart will not 
be deterred from serving on the board of education through failure to receive a 
salary or fee. 

TERRITORY FROM WHICH ELECTED OR APPOINTED. 

Of 417 boards elected by the people, 388, or 93 per cent, are elected at large, 
and only 29, or 7 per cent, by wards. Of 99 boards appointed by city officials, 
95 are appointed to represent the entire city. The ward system of electing 
school-board members has evidently almost disappeared, and will no doubt dis- 
appear entirely within the next few years. 

This system was once, and still is in the cities yet having ward elections, 
most pernicious in its effect upon the schools. School-board members under this 
plan do not consider themselves responsible to the people of the city but to the 
people of their respective wards. " I'll get all I can for my ward " is the slogan. 
This is done by trading or " log rolling." The board member who can not or 
will not play the game gets but little for his ward as a rule. In the election 
of teachers, ward-board members are often permitted to nominate teachers for 
their own wards. Another evil of the system is that each ward must have its 
own school building. Practically every city that ever had the ward system 
now has too many school buildings, it being no unusual thing to find five or 
more elementary school buildings, or one to each ward in cities of not more 
than 10,000 population, whereas two or three buildings well located would 
serve the city much better ; they would be less expensive to operate and at the 
same time would provide better school facilities. 



6 ADMINISTKA.TION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

The following are typical replies made by school-board members who have 
had experience both with boards of education elected at large and with those 
elected by wards in regard to the efficiency of the two methods : 

The disadvantage of ward representation is that it frequently causes unwise 
expenditures in one section in order to bring about a just and needed expendi- 
ture in another. 

Election at large tends to eliminate politics from administration of the 
school department. 

We find that we get better men by election at large, and that there is not 
the clamor from the particular wards for special favors. 

I favor election by wards. The populous and aristocratic wards would and 
might neglect the industrial wards where the foreigners live. 

The ward system fosters the spirit of getting as much as possible for particu- 
lar ward schools. The school system should be managed as a whole and not in 
ward units. 

I am convinced that electing the school board at large in one city has 
allowed politics to decide who shall be the school controllers. The result has 
been that the very best citizens will not run, because they are not politicians 
enough to be elected and refuse to be defeated. To our city we have anuftxed 
new territory, making three new wards. These new wards are very thickly 
populated and consist of a most decidedly mixed population as to nationality, 
and thus far these new wards are subject to politicians. The result is that 
any man who seeks a position on the school board honorably or otherwise 
must see to it that he has enough votes to carry these three wards. 

By election at large the community can keep out of the office men of inferior 
quality who have political pull in certain localities. Election at large also 
obviates undue influence brought to bear by neighbors and friends upon a 
member to secure special favors. 

Members of school boards must be elected at large and not by wards, 
although efforts should be made in nominating to get men from different 
sections of the city. My objection to the ward system is that where two or 
more men are running for election in any particular ward the competition 
becomes quite keen in that limited territory, and the candidates are liable to 
make a number of promises which they may find it difficult to carry out, or 
in endeavoring to carry them out benefit that particular section of their town 
and lose sight of the interests of other sections which may be in greater need. 

Good men are frequently more popular in the town than they are in their own 
ward. 

The general opinion of those superintendents who have worked for boards 
elected by wards and for boards elected at large is that better board members 
are elected under the latter plan. They say : 

Only the better class of business and professional men are now elected. 

Local prejudices do not dominate. Members pull together better in interest 
of the whole district. 

Representative citizens are elected, discarding the election of ward favorites. 

Men with broader conception of the function of the school are elected. 

Election at large eliminates bargaining and log rolling. 

The numerous school survey reports are unanimous in declaring that election 
at large is superior to election by wards. ITor example, the staff that made a 
survey of the schools of Janesville, Wis., where two board members were 
elected at large and one member from each ward, emphatically declared that 
ward election is antiquated and should be abolished at the first opportunity. 
The staff says further: 

Selection by wards can not be justified under the pretense that the interests 
of a given ward will be better taken care of under a system of ward representa- 



THE SCHOOL BOARD. 7 

tion. Ward Interests see things with one eye and that only partly open. 
* * * The point to be considered is that the present form of organization 
lends Itself well to ward manipulation. * * * Another condition resulting 
from ward selection, which is perhaps equally bad, is tliat which automatically 
prevents the selection of some of the city's most able men for membership on 
the board. 

CITY BOARDS OF EDUCATION AS PROVIDED BY STATE LAW. 

Alabama. — In towns having 2,000 or more inhabitants, 5 members ; term, 5 years ; ap- 
pointed by the council or other governing body. 

Arizona. — Members, 3 ; term, 3 years ; elected at large. 

Arkansas. — Members, 6 ; term, 3 years ; elected at large. 

Colorado. — In districts containing a school population of 1,000 or over, 5 members; 
term, 6 years ; elected at large, 

California. — Except where city boards are otherwise authorized by law, members, 3 ; 
term, 3 years ; elected at large. 

Delaxcare. — Special school districts, members, 3 ; term, 3 years ; elected at large. 

Florida. — Special school districts, members, 3 ; term, 2 years ; elected at large. 

Ida.ho. — Members, 6 ; term, 3 years ; elected at lar,i,'e. 

IlUnois. — In districts having a population of not fewer than 1,000 and not more than 
100,000, not governed by special act, 6 members and president, and 3 additional members 
for additional 10,000 inhabitants, no board to exceed 15 members. 

Indiana. — Cities of 100,000 population and over, 5 members ; term, 4 years ; elected at 
large ; cities, 55,000 to 63,000 population, 5 members ; term, 4 years ; elected at large. 
Cities under 50,000 population, 3 members ; term, 3 years ; appointed by the council. 

Iowa. — In any district Including all or part of a city of the first class, or a city under 
special charter, 7 members ; terra, 3 years ; elected at large. Other independent city 
district, 5 members ; term, 3 years, 

Kansas. — Cities of first and second class, except those having a population of not more 
than 50,000 and less than 75,000, 6 members ; term, 4 years ; elected at large. 

Kentucky. — Cities of first and second class, 5 members ; term, 4 years ; elected at large. 
Third class, 2 members from each ward selected by voters of entire city ; term, 4 years. 

Louisiana. — Parish school board. Elected by voters of each police jury ward, one 
member for each police juror in the ward. Term, 6 years. 

Massachusetts. — Town school committee, any number of persons divisible by 3 which 
the town has decided to elect. Term, 3 years ; elected at large. 

Michigan. — Cities 100,000 to 250,000 population, 9 members ; elected at large ; term, 
3 years. Districts of third class, population, 12,000 to 75,000, 6 members ; term, 6 years ; 
elected at large. 

Mississippi. — Members, 5 ; term, 8 years ; appointed by mayor and board of aldermen. 

Missouri. — Members, 6 ; term, 3 years ; elected at large, 

Montana. — Districts having a population of 8,000 or more, 7 members ; term, 3 years ; 
elected at large. Districts having a population of 1,000 or more and less than 8,000, 
5 members ; term, 3 years ; elected at large, 

Nebraska. — Members, 6 ; term, 3 years ; elected at large. In cities having less than 
40,000 inhabitants and more than 5,000 the board of education shall, at option of school 
district, consist of 9 members for a term of 3 years. In cities having more than 40,000 
and less than 100,000 population, 6 members for a term of 6 years. 

Nevada. — Districts having more than 1,500 school-census children, 5 members; elected 
at large ; term, 4 years. 

New Jersey. — In city school districts having less than 45,000 population, 5 members ; 
appointed by mayor ; term, 5 years. 45,000 or more population, 9 members ; appointed 
by mayor ; term, 3 years. 

New Mexico. — Members, 5 ; elected at large ; term, 4 years. 

New Yorfc.— Members not less than 3 nor more than 9 ; elected by people or appointed 
by mayor or council ; term, 5 years. 

North Dakota. — In cities not organized under general law, 7 members ; term, 3 years ; 
elected at large. Cities as independent districts, 1 member from each ward ; if an even 
number of wards, 1 member at large ; if an odd number, 2 members at large ; term, 
3 years. 

Ohio. — Cities of less than 50,000 population, not less than 3 nor more than 5 mem- 
bers ; elected at large. Cities of 50,000 to 150,000 population, not less than 2 nor more 
than 7 members ; elected at large ; and not less than 2 nor more than 12 from subdistricts. 
Cities of 150,000 population or more, not less than 5 nor more than 7 members ; elected 
at large ; term, 4 years in each case. 



8 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

Oklahoma. — One member from each ward and one from outlying territory ; term, 4 
years ; elected. In Independent districts not cities of the first class, 3 members ; term, 4 
years ; elected at large. Cities having more than 50,000 population, 2 members from each 
ward, provided the number of wards does not exceed 5 ; term, 4 years ; elected. 

Oregon. — Districts having 1,000 or more school-census children, 6 members ; term, 5 
years ; elected at large. 

Pennsylvania. — Districts of first class, 500,000 population and over, 15 members ; term, 
6 years ; appointed by the court. Districts of second class, 30,000 to 500,000 population, 

9 members ; term, 6 years ; elected at large. Districts of third class, 5,000 to 30,000 
population, 7 members ; term, 6 years ; elected at large. Districts of fourth class, under 
B.OOO population, 5 members ; term, 6 years ; elected at large. 

Rhode Island. — Town school committee, members, 3 ; term, 3 years ; elected at large. 

South Dakota. — Members, 5 ; term, 3 years ; elected at large. 

Tennessee. — Not to exceed 6 members ; term, 3 years ; appointed by mayor and aldermen. 

Texas. — Members, 7 ; term, 2 years ; elected at large In all Independent districts estab- 
lished after 1905. Towns and cities which choose their school boards by appointment of 
city council or aldermen may by vote have a school board of 7 members elected at large 
for a term of 2 years. 

Utah. — First class, 10 members ; 2 for each ward ; term, 4 years ; elected. Second 
class, 5 members ; term, 5 years ; elected from and by each ward. 

Virginia. — Members, 3 from each ward ; term, 3 years ; appointed by the council. 

Washington. — Cities of first and second class, 5 members ; term, 3 years ; elected at 
large. Cities of third and fourth class districts, 3 members ; term, 3 years ; elected at 
large. 

Wisconsin. — In cities of first class, 15 members ; term, 3 years ; elected at large. In 
any city other than first class that has adopted general charter law, one commissioner 
from each ward and three from th.e city at large ; term, 3 years ; appointed by mayor 
and city council, or by city council if so determined by ordinance. City schools may also 
work under district system ; 3 members ; term, 3 years ; elected at large. City may have 
by vote 7 members ; term, 3 years, elected at large. 

Wyoming.— Members, 3 ; term, 3 years ; elected at large. In districts having over 
1,000 population electors may increase board to 6 members for a term of 8 years. 

DUTIES OF THE SCHOOL BOARD. 

School boards are usually given broad powers and have similar duties. 
Among the powers and duties usually granted school boards are these: To 
appoint teachers, janitors, truant officers, and other employees, and to fix their 
salaries, to select textbooks and to adopt courses of study (if the law provides 
for local adoption of textbooks or courses of study), to purchase supplies and 
fuel, to keep school buildings in repair, to levy taxes or submit estimates to city 
council or board of estimate, to submit bond issues to a vote of the people, to 
erect school buildings, to prescribe duties of teachers and others, etc. 

In a city school system, or even in any school system, a school board can not 
perform all these duties, because of a lack of time and because it is not qualified 
to perform all those duties requiring the service of some one of special training. 
It is evident that the service of some one is required in the selection of teachers, 
in the rating of a teacher's work, and in the selection of textbooks. To do these 
things the school board should employ a superintendent of schools and then hold 
him responsible for results. 

But what is there for a board of education to do if the superintendent does 
all these things? The Portland (Oreg.) school survey ^ answers the question : 

This leaves the board free alike from the strong personal pulls and influences 
and from the petty details of school administration, with time to devote to the 
larger problems of its work. These relate to the selection of its exi)ert advisers, 
upon which much time and care should be spent ; the larger problems of finance, 
present and future ; the selection of school sites, always with future needs and 
growth in mind ; the approval of building plans ; the determination of the budget 
of expenses ; the final decision as to proposed expansion and enlargements of the 

* Cubberley, E. P. : The Portland Survey, pp. 81-32. 



THE SCHOOL. BOAED. 9 

educational system ; the prevention of unwise legislation by the city or by the 
legislature ; and the representation of the needs and policies of the school system 
before the people of the city and of the State. These larger needs are far more 
Important, but are almost sure to be neglected if a board of school directors 
attempts to manage too minutely the details of school administration. 

In some of the smaller cities, citizens, teachers, and others take their troubles 
to individual members of the board with the thought that such individuals, by 
reason of the fact that they chance to be members of the board of education, 
have greater powers than other individuals in the community. The fact is, 
however, that an individual board member, unless authorized by the board to do 
certain things, has no more authority in school matters than has any other 
person in the city; in fact, a board member does not have as much authority 
as the janitor. Indeed, a board member acting as an individual has no more 
right to give orders to a janitor of a school building than has any other citizen. 

Many a school-board member would avoid much trouble if he would refer all 
persons seeking this or that thing to the superintendent of schools, saying : 

After the superintendent has rendered his decision, you may, if you are not 
satisfied with it, appeal to the board of education, but I as an individual board 
member can do nothing. It will require the action of the entire board. 

The school board should hear no complaint until after the superintendent has 
passed judgment. Regarding this point the Butte (Mont.) survey committee 
says: 

Book agents, supply agents, applicants for teachers' positions, disgruntled 
teacher and principals, and all others seeking favors in the school department 
should at once be referred to the superintendent of schools, with the simple 
statement that the board makes it a rule to take no action in such matters except 
upon his recommendation. When this is understood, the board members will be 
saved the waste of much valuable time and the efficiency of the educational 
service will be greatly improved. 

Theisen, in his study ' of the city superintendent and the board of education, 
got the judgments of students of school administration and others regarding 
the duties of a board of education. These duties, arranged in the order of 
their importance, are: 

1. Select the chief executive officer and support him in the discharge of his 

duties. 

2. Pass upon the annual budget for maintenance prepared by the chief execu- 

tive and his assistants (budget including sources and amount of revenue 
available, as well as expenditures ) . 

3. Debate and pass upon recommendations of chief executive for additional 

capital outlays — buildings, sites, improvements — and determine the means 
of financing such outlays ; e. g., bonds, loans. 

4. Advise with the chief executive, affording a group judgment, on his recom- 

mendations for extensions or readjustments of the scope of educational 
activities. 

5. Appoint (upon nomination and recommendation of the chief executive) 

teachers, principals, and supervisors. 

6. Determine, after consultation and discussion with the chief executive, the 

schedule of salaries. 

7. Require and consider report of the business transacted or pending and of 

the financial status of the system. 

8. Require and discuss report of the chief executive concerning progress of 

the schools, in terms of achievements of pupils, teachers, supervisors. 

9. Adopt, upon consultation with the chief executive, a set of by-laws or rules 

for the government of the school system ; i. e., designate authority of 
executive and administrative officers and duties to be performed by the 
board or its committees. 

" Theisen, W. W. : The City Superintendent and the Board of Education. Teachers Col- 
lege, Columbia Univ. Contr. to Educ, No. 84, pp. 30-31. 



10 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

10. Pass upon architect's plans, approved by the chief executive and his as- 

sistants, for buildings that have been authorized. 

11. Represent needs of the schools before city authorities or the legislature. 

12. Approve the list of bills for expenditure previously authorized and ap- 

proved by executive officers. 

13. Consider recommendations of executive officers on legal matters, decide 

steps to be taken ; e. g., suits to quiet title, condemnation. 

14. Approve textbooks selected by the chief executive and approve courses of 

study recommended by him. 

15. Represent needs of the schools before the public ; i. e., press, platform. 

16. Serve as laymen, ready (even after retiring from the board) to champion 

school needs and to further public support of the schools ; e, g., as others 
champion good streets, parks. 

17. Act as a court of final appeal for teachers, supervisors, and patrons in cases 

which the superintendent has not been able to dispose of or which may be 
appealed from his decision. 

18. Hear communications, written or oral, from citizens or organizations on 

matters of administration or policy. 

19. Visit the schools, observe or investigate the efficiency of instruction. 

It is not possible to discuss all these duties, but several of the most important 
are briefly discussed. 

Selection of a superintendent. — The biggest problem now and then confronting 
a school board is the selection of a superintendent. The first thing to do is to 
decide what qualifications a superintendent should have. If a board expects 
to run the school itself without consulting the superintendent, it should look 
for a man who will quietly acquiesce, for if it does not elect such a man it 
may have a fight on its hands, as it should have. If, however, a board is 
looking for a man to run the schools, it needs a man with force of character, 
backed up by education and experience. 

Though a college degree is not absolutely essential to the success of a super- 
intendent, few school boards now elect men or women who have not had a 
college course and possibly some graduate courses. 

Experience as teacher or supervisor is usually required. In cities of 5,000 
or more population it is a rare occurrence for anyone to be elected as superin- 
tendent who has not had experience in some supervisory position, either as 
superintendent in a smaller place or as an elementary or high-school principal. 
In many of the smaller cities -the high-school principal is promoted to the 
superintendency. Often this is a mistake, especially if he has never had any 
experience in supervising elementary schools or has not made any study of 
city school administration problems. A college graduate without experience 
but who has made a study of city school administration would, other things 
being equal, make a better superintendent than a high-school principal who 
has never been interested in problems of city school administration but only 
in the narrow routine of the management of high-school classes. 

Having determined what educational qualifications and experience an appli- 
cant for the superintendency should possess, how may a board determine 
whether he has been successful and whether his character is such as to warrant 
his election? 

Too often school boards give undue weight to letters of recommendation. 
All the recommendations an applicant carries with him are good. Instead of 
relying on recommendations written " to whom it may concern," the better 
plan is to have the applicant submit a list. of references to whom the secretary 
may write or with whom members of the board may converse. 

Some boards have adopted the plan of going over all the applications care- 
fully and eliminating all but five or six of the most promising. An investi- 
gating committee, or the entire board, if a small one, visits the cities where 



THE SCHOOL BOAKD. 11 

the applicants are supervising. Inquiries made of business and professional 
men usually reveal the status of the superintendent in that city. A school 
board employing this method visited a city and on inquiry of some of the 
prominent business and professional men discovered that only one or two 
knew anything about the schools. Several did not know the name of the super- 
intendent, who had been in the city for seven years. This committee, being 
in search of a man who possessed, among other qualifications, the power to 
make himself felt in the community, wisely made no further inquiries. 

Committees looking up the record of applicants interview the applicants' 
enemies as well as their friends. This is only fair to the board and usually 
to the applicant. A committee that w^as looking for a superintendent discovered 
that a promising applicant had some enemies. These were interviewed. One 
said, " The sooner you take our superintendent the better it will be for this 
town." The committee questioned him for a few minutes and discovered that 
the superintendent had refused to nominate this man's daughter for a position 
in the schools. Another said that the tax rate had been increased because the 
superintendent had introduced some new things, such as manual training, draw- 
ing, and evening schools. One of the committee, speaking of this incident, 
said that the superintendent's enemies gave him a better recommendation than 
his friends. 

Dr. N. C. Schaeffer, speaking of the necessity of looking into the past and 
the present of an applicant for a superintendency, says : 

Where a man has made no enemies it is proof, that he has never taken a stand 
or waged a fight on any of the great moral questions of the day. And then, after 
consulting the man's friends and enemies, it behooves the inquirer to learn 
what he can from those who occupy a position of indilference. In that way 
you have the best criterion you can get to test the qualities of a candidate 
for the position of superintendent. Some mistakes have been made in the 
selection of superintendents. If the directors had asked not merely the friends 
but also the enemies and then submitted the inquiry to those taking no side 
for or against the candidate, they would have avoided some of the blunders 
we find to-day. 

Many of the boards in the smaller cities are still flooded with applications 
when a vacancy occurs in the superintendency, since they give out the impres- 
sion that the position should be sought. On the contrary, the board should seek 
the man. 

A school board was advertising for a superintendent, and when applicants 
went to see the president of the board he asked them a few questions and read 
over their testimonials. He then told them to see the other members of the board 
and to file a written application with the secretary. One day an applicant 
introduced himself, and when asked a few questions and told to visit the 
other members of the board, he said : 

Is this all you want to know about me? If you are not pushing your in- 
quiries any further with the applicants, I do not wish to be considered. If 
you are really looking for a superintendent, I wish that you would look up 
my record. I shall not see any of the other members of the board until you 
have done this. 

The president of the board, who was a keen business man, immediately saw 
the force of what the young man had said and at once looked up his record 
and the records of the other applicants. The president and the other members 
of that board say that if they had not examined into the records of the 50 
or 60 applicants they would in all probability have made a serious blunder. 

Another board in a city of 10,000 population, acting on the plan of letting 
the applicant seek the position, had on the day of election 60 applicants from 
which to choose. The board was bewildered, but they soon made up their 



12 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

minds. A wily and unscrupulous politician in the city, knowing the difficulty 
the board would have in selecting a man from the 60 who had visited the board, 
advised a friend of his who wanted the position not to appear until the day 
of the election. A few hours before time for the board meeting the new 
applicant appeared. He made a favorable impression, and was unanimously 
elected. A few days later two of the board learned from a reliable source that 
the newly elected superintendent was a man of immoral character. But as 
he had been duly elected these two board members decided that they would not 
divulge this bit of information. Within two years the man was dismissed on 
charges of immorality. A little investigation would have saved the school 
board and the city from humiliation. The selection of a superintendent is a 
matter to which school boards can not give too serious thought. 

Consideration of the annual budget. — One of the important duties of a school 
board is to determine the amount of funds necessary to run the schools, not 
only to determine the total amount but the amount needed for each item. In 
many instances boards and superintendents simply estimate the amount from 
what was expended the previous year, adding possibly 5 or 10 per cent. 

The superintendents of city schools should make an estimate of the amount 
necessary for each item of expenditure and submit his estimate to the board 
for its consideration. In practice 2^52 of 505 superintendents reporting prepare 
the annual budget for the board's consideration. In 95 cities the budget is 
made up by the board itself, in 95 by a committee of the board, and in 66 by 
the secretary of the board. 

Though no hard and fast rule can be made as to what per cent each item should 
be of the total running expenses, it is evident that an attempt should be made 
to preserve a proper balance, so that an item may not be out of proportion to 
other items. 

For instance, what ratio should exist between expenditure for elementary and 
high schools? In cities of between 10,000 and 30,000 population the high-school 
cost is 2.1 times that of the elementary school. In this connection it must be 
remembered that if the ratio of expenditure between the elementary school and 
the high school is much greater than this, the conclusion does not necessarily 
follow that too much is being spent for the high school, but that not enough is 
spent on the elementary schools. Cities expending four or five times as much for 
high-school pupils evidently need to change the ratio by expending more for the 
grades. 

The following shows the per cent of the current expenses devoted to each 
item of expenditure in all cities of between 10,000 and 30,000 population : 

General control _ 4. 6 

Business 1. 2 

Educational 3. 4 

Instruction 74. 8 

Supervisors 2. 7 

Principals 6. 1 

Teachers 59. 2 

Textbooks and supplies : 4. 8 

Operation 14. 7 

Janitors' salaries 6. 8 

Fuel, water, light, etc 7.9 

Maintenance 4. 9 

Auxiliary agencies . 1. 8 

Fixed charges 1. 2 

Total 100.0 



THE SCHOOL BOARD. 13 

In general a school system may apportion the various items in the budget as 
follows : 

Per cent 
of total. 

General control 4 to 6 

Instruction 70 to 80 

Supervisors, Including principals 7 to 10 

Teaching alone 58 to 70 

Janitors' salaries 5 to 7 

Textbooks and supplies 4 to 6 

Fuel 5 to 8 

Maintenance 4 to 6 

Auxiliary agencies 1 to 3 

Fixed charges 1 to 2 

Strayer ^ recommends that " cities spending a relatively large amount per pupil 
should spend a relatively larger proportion for teaching and supervision and 
for textbooks and supplies, while the proportion spent for fuel, repairs, and jani- 
tors' salaries should increase much more slowly." 

Providing buildings and playgrounds. — A board of education that refuses to 
delegate authority to the superintendent of schools for fear that it will have 
nothing to do could very profitably put in much of the time discussing the 
present and future building needs of the city, tJie number of school buildings, 
the type of building, and other things necessary for a good school system. Of 
course, the superintendent should be consulted, and his recommendations dis- 
cussed as they are on other items of business. 

Many boards of education, when contemplating the erection of a building, 
visit other cities where new buildings have been erected to get new ideas. In 
States where there are no definite regulations regarding the erection of school 
buildings, the rules and regulations of other States should be consulted, also 
journals that are devoted in whole or in part to the discussion of school build- 
ings. Only an architect who makes a specialty of school buildings should be 
employed. One skilled in planning business houses, dwellings, churches, and 
the like, usually has no knowledge of the best plans for school buildings. He 
may plan a building good to look at, but poor from the point of service. In 
a certain city an architect who had designed many business buildings was 
employed by the school board, composed of business men for whom the architect 
had designed private buildings. They were sincere in their belief that he could 
plan an addition to tlie high-school building. The superintendent and high- 
school principal, after looking over the plans that he had prepared, protested 
on several points, saying that the addition would not fit in with the old part 
and that it would not be as serviceable as another type, but the architect's 
plans were adopted, on the theory that he was an expert builder, while the 
superintendent and high-school principal were only supervisors of instruction. 
As soon ae the building was erected the board members saw that it was not 
such as an architect who understood the needs of a school would have planned. 

The board must decide what type of school building is to be erected, whether 
it is to contain nothing but classrooms or w^hether it is to contain shops, a 
gj^mnasium, an auditorium, and special rooms for music, art, etc. If of this 
latter type, it must be decided whether the school is to be organized so as to 
make use of all the space all the time the school is in session. If there nre 
nothing but classrooms, all the space can be used all the time. In such build- 
ings tliere is no provision for hand work, physical training, etc. If shops, a 

» Strayer, G. D. City School Expenditures. 
90263°— 22 2 



14 



ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 



gymnasium, and an auditorium are provided, the building will be expensive, from 
the fact that some of the classrooms will be vacant when the children go to 
the shops, gymnasium, and auditorium. 

This problem of using all the schoolroom space all the time can be solved by 
the adoption of the work-study-play or platoon plan. This plan grew out of a 
recognition of tJie fact that the growth of cities makes educational problems 
far more difficult than formerly; in fact, has created a new school problem. 
Briefly, the plan is this .* 

A school is divided into two parts, each having the same number of classes, 
and each containing all the eight or nine grades. The first part, which we will 
call the " A School," comes to school in the morning, say, at 8.30, and goes to 
classrooms for academic work. AVhile this school is in the classrooms, it ob- 
viously can not use any of the special facilities; therefore, the other school — 
" B School " — goes to the special activities, one-third to the auditorium, one- 
third to the playground, and one -third is divided among such activities as the 
shops, laboratories, drawing, and music studios. At the end of one of two 
periods — that is, when the first group of children has remained, according to 
the judgment of the school authorities, in school seats as long as is good for 
them at one time — the A School goes to the playground auditorium and other 
special facilities, while the B School goes to the classroom. 

Under this reorganization on the work-study-play plan all the children 
would have not only the same amount of time for reading, writing, arithmetic, 
geography, and history as formerly— 210 minutes — but also 50 minutes of play 
every day, 50 minutes a day of auditorium, and 50 minutes of shopwork 
every day in the week for a third of the year, science every day for a third 
of the year, and drawing or music every day for a third of the year. 

The following table gives a possible program for tJie A School. It will be 
recalled that there are 12 classes in this A School, which are divided into 3 
divisions of 4 classes each : Division 1, upper grades ; division 2, intermediate 
grades; division 3, primary grades. 

THE "A SCHOOL." 





Regular activities. 


Special activities. 


School hours. 


Academic instruction. 


Auditorium. 


Play and 
physical train- 
ing. 


Cooking, 

shop, science, 

etc. 


g 30- q 20 


Arithmetic — Divisions 1,2,3 








9 20-10.10.... 


Language — Divisions 1,2,3 








10 10-11.00 




Division 1 

ool" at luncheor 


Division 3 


Division 2. 


11.00-12.00.... 
12.00- 1.00 ... 


Entire "A Sch 
Reading— Divisions 1, 2, 3 




1 00- 1.50 










1.50- 2.40.... 




Divisions 

Division 2 


Division 2 

Divisions 


Division 1. 


2.40- 3.30. 


Do. 






THE "B SCHOOL." 


8 30- 9 20 




Division 2 

Divisions 


Divisions 

Division 2...... 


Division 1 


9.20-10.10 




Do. 


10.10-11.00 .. 


Arithmetic— Divisions 1,2,3 




11 00-12.00 




i 




12.00- 1.00.... 
1.00- 1.50.... 


Entire " B Sch 


ool" at luncheor 
Division 1 


Division 3 


Division 2. 


1.50- 2.40.... 


Reading— Divisions 1, 2, 3 




2.40- 3.30 . 


History and geography — Divisions 1, 2, 3. 



















The program represents a change in the traditional method in several im- 
portant points. In the first place, it breaks up the custom of having all chil- 
dren in classrooms at the same time and letting the classrooms lie idle when 



*IT. S. Bu. of Educ. Bui., 1920, No. 43. Survey of the Schools of Winchester, Mass., 
pp. 37-38. 



THE SCHOOL BOARD. 15 

the children go to the auditorium, shoiDS, and playground. In other words, it 
applies to the public school the principle on which all other public-service 
institutions are run ; that is. the multiple use of all facilities all the time. For 
example, it is evident that our transportation system is made possible because 
of the fact that all people do not wish to ride at exactly the same time ; concerts 
and theaters are made available to many people because one person can use 
another's seat when he does not want to use it; hotels can accommodate thou- 
sands of people because they are not run on the principle of reserving each 
room for the exclusive use of a single individual during the whole year. On 
the other hand, the public-school system has been run on the principle of reserv- 
ing a seat for each child during the whole year. All children have to be in 
school seats from 9 to 12 a. m., and from 1 to 3 p. m. ; all have to go home to 
lunch at the same time; and at 3 o'clock all are dismissed and turned out to 
play. 

There would, after all, seem to be no good reason why the principle of other 
public-service institutions, i. e., multiple use of facilities all the time, should 
not apply to the school, nor any reason why all children should be in classrooms 
at the same time, nor why the special facilities should be used only a fraction 
of the day, provided, of course, that the children receive during the day the re- 
quired amount of academic work. In fact, it is difficult to see how the problem 
of providing enough classrooms, or playgrounds, or auditoriums for the mass 
of children is ever to be met if all children have to be in classrooms at the 
same time, and if all children have to play at once. Moreover, there seems to be 
no good reason from an educational standpoint why children should all have 
to do the same thing at the same time. 

Fortunately, however, if the principle of multiple use is applied to public- 
school facilities, it is possible to provide not only adequate classroom accom- 
modations but also auditoriums, gymnasiums, and shops for the mass of children. 
In fact, accommodations may be provided in all facilities, if they are in use 
constantly by alternating groups, at less cost than regular classrooms alone 
may be provided on the basis of a reserved seat for every child. For example, 
in a 24-class school, under the traditional plan, 24 classrooms are needed in addi- 
tion to all the other special facilities. Under the work-study-play plan only 12 
classrooms are needed. The classroom, however, is the most expensive unit 
in the school; therefore, since only half the usual number of classrooms is 
needed, i. e., 12 classrooms in a 24-class school, the cost of the remainder is 
released for all the other special facilities. 

Under the work-study-play plan, or platoon or duplicate school plan as it 
is sometimes called, a school building to accommodate 24 classes would cost 
approximately $336,000, while a building run on the plan of leaving the class- 
rooms, gymnasium, and auditorium vacant part of the time would cost about 
$528,000. A school board should' therefore study its building problem carefully 
to see whether it should expend $100,000 more on a building in order to have a 
school organized on the traditional plan of allowing some rooms to be unused 
part of the day or on the work-study-play or platoon plan which uses all the 
rooms all the time. 

As yet boards of education in the smaller cities have not given much attention 
to the matter of play and playgrounds. Of 520 cities reporting, only about 10 
per cent have adequate school playgrounds. Some of these smaller cities, how- 
ever, have municipal playgrounds, but these are often so far away from the 
school buildings that they can not be used in connection with school work. 
City playgrounds and school playgrounds should be one and the same. In a 
certain small city fairly well equipped with playgrounds at some distance from 
the school building the school children at the noon hour stand huddled in a 
small school yard. There are playgrounds with no children on them, while at 
the school house there are several hundred children with no place to play. 

Another question a school board is called on to decide is, who besides chil- 
dren shall use the school buildings and grounds? If adults are permitted to use 
them, what adults? Are certain societies and organizations to be permitted to 
use school buildings and others to be refused? Many school boards, rather 



16 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

than take the responsibility of making these decisions, have closed the school 
buildings to all but a few activities. Possibly the problem will not be solved 
satisfactorily until the community organizes and acts as one group. This would 
be the democratic way. 

Issuing bonds. — One of the duties of a school board is to decide whether to 
ask for a bond election. The comparatively large amount of money necessary 
to provide a new schoolhouse and grounds when they are needed in a school 
district is not often available from the ordinary tax levies ; hence resort must 
be had to some extraordinary means of supplying the requisite funds. The 
issue of bonds of the district is the means to which school authorities usually 
resort, even if this method eventually means greater expenditure. The bonds 
may in general be divided into two classes, those issued for the purpose of 
providing the school plant and those floated to refund outstanding indebtedness. 
Every State provides for the first mentioned, but some States do not provide 
for refunding older obligations with new evidences of indebtedness. 

The most common method of procedure is issuance of bonds by the board of 
education, after securing the authority of the qualified voters expressed at an 
election. Usually the board may of its own accord submit the question to a 
vote of the people, but the provision is often added in the law that, on petition 
of an expressed percentage or of a fixed number of electors, the board mrust call 
an election to determine the question of a bond issue or submit the proposal 
at a regular election after due notice. The number of qualified petitioners nec- 
essary to secure the calling of an election varies. In Arizona it is 15 per cent ; 
in South Carolina an election must be called on petition of one-third of the legal 
voters; in Texas 20 taxpaying voters may petition for and obtain an election; 
in Utah the school board must submit the question when petitioned by a ma- 
jority of the resident taxpayers. In a few cases more than a mere majority 
of the school board is required ; in Nebraska, for example, a two-thirds vote 
of the board is necessary in a city of 1,000 inhabitants or more to submit a 
proposal to issue bonds for the purpose of providing a site and building. 

In some States the matter of issuing bonds must be passed upon by a body 
having power to review and approve or disapprove the acts of the school 
authorities who wish to make the issue. This reviewing body is generally 
either the legislature or some civil municipal authority. In Delaware, bonds 
are generally issued by authorization of the legislature, and the same is true 
of a few other States. In Rhode Island indebtedness may be voted by the 
people up to the limit of 3 per cent of the value of taxable property of the 
town, but beyond that amount the consent of the legislature is necessary. 
Indiana has several methods of procedure, varying with the size of the town 
or class to which the city belongs, but generally the consent of the common 
council or corresponding civil authority of the town or city is necessary before 
the school board may issue bonds. 

The law of New Jersey provides that boards of education in cities shall sub- 
mit an estimate of the cost of the proposed site and building to the board of 
school estimate, a body composed of two members of the board of education 
designated by that board, two members of the common council designated by 
the council, and the mayor or corresponding executive officer of the city. The 
board of school estimate is authorized to fix the amount of bonds to be issued 
and submit the matter to the common council, which may either make an ap- 
propriation of the amount needed or issue the bonds of the city. This provi- 
sion, however, does not apply to many of the smaller cities. In most small 
cities and towns in New .Jersey the school board submits the proposed bond 
issue directly to the voters of the school district without intervention of any 
other body. 



THE SCHOOL BOARD. 17 

In a few States where the county-unit system prevails, bonds for district- 
school purposes are issued by the county. This is true in Maryland and 
Louisiana, outside of Baltimore and New Orleans, respectively. It is also true 
in Tennessee, outside of counties having more than 190,000 inhabitants. 

The number of votes necessary to carry an election on a bond issue varies 
in the different States, but a mere majority of the votes cast is the general 
rule. In California a two-thirds majority is necessary. In Nebraska, bonds 
may not be issued in cities of 25,000 population or more except by two-thirds 
of the votes cast. Washington requires a larger majority for a large percentage 
of indebtedness. In that State bonds amounting to li per cent of the value of 
taxable property may be authorized by a mere majority of votes cast, but for 
a greater amount a three-fifths majority must be in favor of the issue 

The qualifications required of voters are usually the same as those required 
for a general election, but in a few States there are additional requirements. 
In Arizona, Colorado, and Utah, for example, voters on a proposed bond issue 
must be taxpayers of the district. The law of South Carolina provides that an 
election shall be called on petition of one-third of the voters and a like num- 
ber of freeholders of the district. 

The authority of the school board in the issuance of bonds is generally con- 
fined to such functions as the submission of the question to the qualified elec- 
tors, the determination of the result of the election, and the preparation and 
sale of the bonds after they are authorized. In a few cases, however, the board 
is vested with the power to make the issue without authorization of the elec- 
torate. This is especially true of refunding outstanding indebtedness. In 
Idaho, Illinois, and Washington the school board is authorized to refund such 
indebtedness. But when this power is vested in the board it is usually granted 
with the proviso that new indebtedness be contracted advantageously to the 
district, or at least, that the new indebedness and interest shall not exceed 
the old. In Pennsylvania the board of directors may contract original indebt- 
edness, but the bonds issued therefor, together with other debts, shall not ex- 
ceed in amount 2 per cent of the value of the taxable property of the district ; 
beyond that amount and up to 7 per cent of the value of the property, bonds 
may be issued only by authority of the electorate. 

The limit of the amount of bonded indebtedness which a district may in- 
cur is generally fixed by law, though in a few States no limit is prescribed. 
In these the voters determine the amount in the expression of their approval 
or disapproval of the proposed bond issue. Where the limit is fixed by statute 
it is usually expressed either as a percentage of the value of the taxable prop- 
erty of the district or in a stated sum. The limitation of bonded indebtedness 
is designed to prevent incurring exorbitant and burdensome taxation to dis- 
charge it. A limit of frequent occurrence is 5 per cent of the value of taxable 
property, but several States vary from this, both above and below. 

Districts of the first and second classes in Colorado may reach the limit of 
5 per cent, but districts of the third class may not go beyond 3i per cent. Penn- 
sylvania allows the school board to make an issue up to 2 per cent of the 
property valuation, but beyond that and up to 7 per cent the vote of the people 
determines the issue. In practically all cases where limitations are expressed 
in per cents, the per cent expressed is made to include outstanding indebtedness 
at the time of the bond issue. In Indiana a stated sum, as $50,000, is fixed for 
certain districts. Texas has the provision that the total amount of bonds shall 
not exceed the amount which may be liquidated by a tax of 50 cents on the 
hundred dollars levied to pay interest and create a sinking fund. In recent 
years there has been a marked tendency to raise limits. 



18 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

Most States provide that bonds shall not be sold below par, but a few fix a 
lower limit. The Missouri statute fixes 95 per cent of par value as the lowest 
sum for which sale may be made. 

The manner of sale is treated with much detail in a number of laws. 
Advertisements for bids, form of issue, denominations, place of payment, and 
the like are generally prescribed. In a few States having large permanent 
school funds statutes are so framed as to promote the investment of these funds 
in the securities of local civil corporations desiring to float indebtedness. The 
Texas law requires that district-school bonds be offered to the State board of 
education for purchase with any uninvested residue of the State permanent 
school fund. North Carolina has a somewhat similar provision in the form of 
loans of the State " literary fund " to districts desiring to purchase sites and 
build schoolhouses. 

The interest on bonded indebtedness is limited by law in most States. The 
fixed maximum varies, however, from 4 to 8 per cent. The maximum most 
commonly found is 5 per cent. In a few States the legal interest rate is made 
the highest rate permissible on school bonds. Here again there has been a 
tendency to raise limits since the advent of war and postwar conditions. 

An item common in legal provisions relating to bond issues is the limit put on 
the term for which bonds may run. There is great variety in the limitations 
fund in the laws of the several States. These vary usually from 10 to 50 years. 
Maximum terms in some of the States are Minnesota and Wisconsin, 15 years ; 
Idaho, Massachusetts, Missouri, and Oregon, 20 years ; Wyoming and certain 
districts in Indiana, 25 years; Michigan and Virginia, 30 years; California, 
40 years. In a few States the time for payment is fixed by the district authori- 
ties. The purpose for which bonds are issued is sometimes made the basis of 
difference between terms for which they may run. In some States original 
bonds, floated for the purpose of providing the school plant, are allowed to run 
longer than refunding obligations. In Texas the character of the building tc^ 
be provided with the proceeds of a bond sale is made the basis of difference. 
The maximum length of time allowed for payment is 40 years ; but if a wooden 
building is to be constructed, only 20 years is allowed. The New Jersey law 
contains similar provisions. ' 

Where bond issues are provided for, it is generally made mandatory upon the 
taxing authority of the district or other corporate unit making the issue to levy 
a tax to keep the interest paid and to create a sinking fund to pay off the prin- 
cipal when it becomes due. In some cases this tax to discharge bonded indebted- 
ness may be levied in addition to any maximum rate fixed by law for general 
school purposes. Generally the law is designed to protect the investor. The 
faith of the district is pledged and school property is subject to levy and sale. 
It is specifically provided in a number of States that if the district authorities 
fail to levy a tax or to make the requisite estimates to cancel their bonds, some 
other authority, as the county commissioners, shall levy the necessary tax in the 
district. School bonds are exempt from taxation in some States. 

The school board, or in some cases a sinking-fund commission, is usually 
authorized to invest the sinking fund, pending the maturity of the bonds. Pre- 
caution is taken to prevent unsafe investment. Bonds of civil corporations, 
deposit of the fund in approved banks, and redemption of the district's own obli- 
gations are the most common channels through which investments may be made. 
The law of North Dakota requires that sinking funds be deposited in the bank 
of North Dakota. 

No doubt some cities amply able to afford bond issues could and would have 
better school buildings if the school board were permitted to issue bonds within 
certain limitations without having to refer the matter to the people, but such pro- 



THE SCHOOL BOARD. 19 

cediire Is considered rather dangerous, since tliere may be extravac^anee on the 
part of tlie board. The tendency in some places is to borrow on the future, with- 
out much thought as to how the obligations will be met. If the people are to be 
held responsible for debts, they themselves should contract them. The people 
will usually provide funds for new buildings if they are informed as to the needs 
of the schools, and it is the duty of the school board to keep the people informed 
on school conditions and on present and future needs. In brief, students of 
school administration do not favor permitting a school board to issue bonds 
even within narrow limitations without first obtaining the consent of the people. 
A school board that issues bonds without providing means for their payment 
when due is derelict in its duty. Instances are on record where school boards 
did not provide a sinking fund to meet the bonds as they matured. One of the 
best methods of issuing bonds is to issue them so that they mature serially ; that 
is, a certain portion of the bond, as one-twentieth of a 20-year bond, maturing 
each year. 

RELATION OF SCHOOL BOARD TO CITY OFFICIALS. 

Of 520 cities reporting, the board of education in 126 of these must refer their 
estimates to the city council or town finance committee, in 30 to a board of 
estimate, in 15 to the people, and in 51 to the county officials, thus leaving 298 
of 520 boards of education free to make up their own estimates without referring 
them to any other body for approval. 

Whether a school board should be compelled to depend upon the city council 
for appropriations has been a debated question. The claim of those in favor 
of having the school board submit estimates to the city council for approval 
is that there should not be two bodies in the city having power to levy taxes, 
since the two may make the combined taxes for school and city purposes too 
high ; that everything should be spent in the light of all the needs of the city ; 
that there is too much scattering of responsibility ; that the affairs of a city 
should be conducted on business principles as in a private corporation, thus 
making it inadvisable to divide the responsibility of the taxing power ; and that 
it would be just as logical to have the board of health or the police department 
independent of the city council. 

Those who advocate the divorcement of school and city affairs claim that the 
school issue is sufficiently large and different from the issues of general munici- 
pal government to make it desirable for the school to have separate attention 
from the people ; that education is a State and not a municipal function, the 
State, for the purpose of maintaining and administering a system of public edu- 
cation, having found it expedient to create school districts whose boundaries 
may or may not be coterminous with those of the city. This view that education 
is a State and not a municipal function is held by the courts. The following 
court decisions are typical : 

The schools in which are located and trained the children who are to become 
the rulers of the Commonwealth are matters of State and not local jurisdiction, — 
{122 Ind. 6J,2.) 

School districts are not strictly municipal corporations but territorial di- 
visions for the purpose of common schools, exercising within a prescribed sphere 
many of the faculties of a corporation. — (42 Pa. 358.) 

The settled policy of the State from an early date has been to divorce the 
business of public education from all other municipal interests or business and 
to take charge of it as a peculiar and separate function through agencies of its 
own selection and immediately subject and responsive to its own control. — 
{176 N. Y. 11.) 



20 ADMINISTRATION- OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

According to the American and English Encyclopaedia of Law," school districts 
are political subdivisions within the State, created for the purpose of maintain- 
ing and administering the system of public education. They are not bodies 
politic or corporate with the general powers of corporation, but may be con- 
sidered as quasi corporations, variable in organization and extent, and having 
corporate existence by force only of their public functions, and therefore the 
strict principles of the law respecting corporations generally can not in all cases 
be applied to these aggregate bodies, created usually by statute. Although a 
school district possesses corporate capacity, it does not, as a general rule, fall 
within the definition of a municipal corporation. 

The fact having been established that education is a State and not a municipal 
function, it is being recognized more and more throughout the country that the 
efficient administration of city schools demands that boards of education be 
given full control over the educational, business, and financial affairs of the 
school system, that the city boards of education should be entirely independent 
of all other branches of city government. 

Practically all students of city school administration advocate the complete 
divorcement of the schools from municipal control. Dr. E. P. Cubberley, pro- 
fessor of education, Leland Stanford Junior University, says : ° 

The experience of our American cities indicates clearly the desirability of 
removing the tax-determining power for the schools from the control of the city 
council and of placing it, within certain legal limits to be fixed by the legis- 
lature, with the school authorities for determination. If within the legal 
limits, the rate decided upon should not be subject to review by any city 
authority. The results have been uniformly good in those cities where such 
power has been transferred to the school authorities, and the schools of such 
cities have, in general, been able to make better progress than in those cities 
where the school department still remains a branch of the city government. 
The rates frequently are higher than under council control, as they usually 
should be, but they are not higher than the needs of the schools would indicate 
as desirable or the wealth of the people would indicate as reasonable. Of all 
money expended by any department of a municipality, that expended for schools 
is probably the most honestly and most intelligently expended. 

Dr. E. C. Moore, when professor of education in Harvard University, said : ^ 
The city government exists not to do everything that must be done, but to 
perform those functions only which are peculiar to itself and can not be per- 
formed by any other agency so well as by its own Corporate officials. Con- 
ducting the courts is one function which it can not perform so well as the 
State can, making general laws is another, and conducting the public schools 
is a third. To intrust all these responsibilities to one body of city officials 
would create a disposition which would be as harmful to the citizens them- 
selves as to their neighbors who dwell outside their limits, but whose interests 
in these things are in common with theirs. Effective government must be a 
system of checks and balances and the vesting of one body of officials with more 
responsibility. * * * 

If it is said that all the tax levied in one locality should be levied by one 
local taxing body, in this case by the municipal authorities, this, too, is not 
sound. Taxes are levied, and must be levied as long as governments within 
governments exist, by each government for its own purposes. The complete 
unification of taxation in the hands of one local body of officials would require 
the complete withdrawal of the municipality from the State and the Nation. 
The right to tax belongs not to the city but to the State, and to the city only 
as delegated to it by the State. The needed unification of taxation and security 
against unjust taxation must be had from the legislature. For, as Chief Justice 
Marshall has said, " The interest, wisdom, and justice of the representative 
body and its relation to its constituents furnish the only security where there 
is no express contract against unjust and excessive taxation, as well as against 
unwise legislation generally." 

«Vol. 25, p. 31. 

6 Cubberley, E. P. Public School Administration. Houghton, Mifflin Co., pp. 412-13. 

'Amer. Sch. Bd. Jour., May, 1913. p. 14. 



THE SCHOOL BOARD. 21 

No principle of eitlier law or sound taxation is violated in those States' in 
which the legislatures delegate to boards of education the duty of determining 
the amoiHit of money required for public-school purposes and then of levying 
it. Such an arrangement is made in order to give effect to the State law, which 
safeguards public education by making it a State function and so removing it, 
as the court has said, from the mismanagement and the taint of local munici- 
pal politics, and such an arrangement is necessary If it is to be in fact as well 
as in theory set free from bondage by local maladministration. The school 
system which must go to the city hall for its appropriations of money to run 
the schools will inevitably find its schools conducted by the city hall, even 
though the laws expressly state that the control and administration of all 
school affairs is vested in a board of education, which is a State body created 
and empowered to conduct the schools and to keep their interests separate from 
all other municipal interests and business. Such a scheme of school adminis- 
tration defeats the very purpose for which jt was created, for the separation 
of conflicting interests is not complete enough to be the real separation which 
is desired, and city hall officials, like love, may be depended upon to find a way 
to subvert it. 

The right to levy a tax for school purposes is delegated to the local officers 
by the State. The whole question is. Will the State serve its schools and the 
people better by delegating this responsibility to the city hall officials or to the 
board of education? As to the right answer there can be no question. 

When Dr. Thomas E. Finegan, now State superintendent of public instruction 
in Pennsylvania, was assistant commissioner of education of the State of New 
York, he said in regard to the practice of utilizing city officials in the administra- 
tion of the city schools : * 

The policy of utilizing city officials in the administration of the work of the 
schools and of conferring upon them the power to determine appropriations and 
control budgets has given to the common council, the board of estimate and 
apportionment, or other similar bodies in many of the cities of the country 
greater influence over the management and control of the schools than have 
the board of education and the superintendent of schools. In many cases city 
officials not legally associated with the schools and in no way responsible for 
their management have usurped the functions of the legally chosen school 
officers. This plan means a division of responsibility in school administration 
which results in a delay in providing necessary school buildings and other im- 
provements, and is to the distinct detriment of the children's interests. The 
authority exerted through this source has often resulted in influential citi- 
zens and political organizations exercising the power of appointing teachers, of 
increasing the salaries of those in whom they were interested without reference 
to their fitness or worth, and of exercising other functions in the administra- 
tion of the schools which the generally accepted policy of school management 
required school officers to perform. This is one of the weakest points in our 
public-school system. The leaders of educational thought in this country 
should strike a decisive blow at this evil, should lead in the fight for com- 
plete freedom of the schools, for the complete independence of those legally 
charged with their management, and for the universal recognition of the principle 
that the schools are institutions dedicated to the service of the people, and that 
no power or influence shall be permitted to impair their usefulness or efficiency. 

Of the 222 superintendents reporting in cities where the board of education 
must refer its estimates to some other body, 94 advocate a board of education 
entirely independent of any other body. 

Last year the budget estimates were reduced in 72 of the 222 cities in which 
the school board must consult some other body regarding the amount of school 
funds. In 47 of these the reduction was made by the city council, in 11 by the 
board of estimate, and in 14 by the county oflScials. In none of the cities where 
the estimates are referred directly to the people was there any reduction of 
the amount requested. 

It is evident that where boards of education levy their own taxes the schools 
need not be handicapped for want of funds, provided, of course, that the maxi- 

«Nat. Ed. Assoc. Rep., 1913, p. 126. 



22 ADMINISTEATIOIT OF SCHOOLS ITT SMALLER CITIES. 

mum rate permitted by law is sufficiently high to cover all cases. The claim 
that two taxing bodies in the -same city make taxes unduly high has seldom 
been justified in fact, and even in these cases the high tax rate was not 
due to the schools but to some city department. If a board of education is 
required to submit an estimate to the city council or some other body, often 
entirely ignorant of school conditions, it may be hampered for want of funds. 
It at least can not plan far ahead. 

This is the case in several States where the school board must look to another 
body for its funds. The school survey commission of the State of Alabama 
says, in regard to the city school situation in that State : " 

There is absolutely not one dollar which the city board of education may 
count upon as available for running its schools without first appealing to some 
other official body. The city school board receives from State and county school 
funds only such amount as the county boards see fit or deem wise to give. 
Before they can use the general city fund they must ask for and obtain it from 
the city commissioners. The special city school tax can not be levied unless 
the county has already taxed itself 3 mills for school purposes, and not in excess 
of the rate levied by the county. Even then the county board of revenue must 
be asked to call this election. 

This situation makes it absolutely impossible for a city school board to con- 
duct its affairs in a really systematic or businesslike way. No individual can 
properly plan his expenditures or business firm operate its business intelli- 
gently without some idea of its probable revenues. The only way in which it 
is possible to conduct a business successfully is to have a budget available for 
expenditure and then to expend it in the best and most systematic manner 
possible. One can not plan any expenditure intelligently without having at 
least some idea as to his income ; yet this is exactly what city school boards in 
Alabama, under present conditions, are required to undertake. 

All those favoring a board of education independent of the city council would 
establish a rate of taxation which a school board may not exceed, but they 
would make it sufficiently high so that those cities in which property is assessed 
at only one-fourth of its value may have sufficient funds for school purposes. 
The maximum rate should be at least 20 mills or $2 on the $100. This may 
seem high, which it is if property is assessed at full value, but in some cities 
property is assessed at about one-fourth its value; so the rate would be only 
5 mills, or 50 cents on the $100 of real value. 

A few students of municipal government have predicted that under the com- 
mission form of government the schools will be administered by the commission 
instead of by a board of education. Thus far there has been no decided 
movement in this direction. There are a few scattered instances of the control 
of the schools by the city commission, but the results have not been outstanding 
enough to convince anyone that this method of administration is an improve- 
ment. The plan thus far proving most efficient is that of having a board of 
education independent of city official domination. 

BOARD MEETINGS. 

t. 

Most school boards in the smaller cities have one regular meeting each month, 
which is often enough for the transaction of ordinary business. There are 
some school boards, however, that have no regular time for meeting' and, as 
a consequence meet rather infrequently and not often enough to keep informed 
in regard to the progress and needs of the schools. There should be a stated 
time for meeting each month, as the first Monday at 7 p. m., or some other 
definite time convenient for all board members. 

» U. S. Bu. of Educ. Bui., 1919, No. 41, An Educational Study of Alabama, p. 250. 



THE SCHOOL BOARD. 23 

At certain times, as when plans for the erection of buildings or other things 
of special importance requiring immediate attention are being considered, It 
is necessary for a board to meet oftener than once a month. 

As a rule school-board meetings may be attended by any citizen or by repre- 
sentatives of the press. Closed sessions do not meet with much favor. There 
may be times, however, when all discussion regarding certain matters should 
be in executive session. If, for instance, cases of discipline of pupils reach the 
board, the discussion should not be made public, but only the final action. If 
the board wishes to discuss with the superintendent the advisability of not re- 
employing a teacher, it is only fair to the teacher that what is said about 
her work should not be said in public. 

In some cities tardiness and irregular attendance of board members often 
handicap the work of the school board. Tardiness of several members may 
prevent a board from' beginning business until a half hour after the time set 
for meeting. Board members who are irregular in attendance miss important 
items of business and lose interest in the affairs of the board. When a board 
is criticized for certain legislation a board member can not well hide behind 
the excuse that he was not present, though this excuse is sometimes offered. 
Indeed, some board members absent themselves when they do not wish to go on 
record as voting for or against a measure. Such officials are not interested 
in the schools and are only making use of them for personal or political 
purposes. 

ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARD. 

Most school board organizations consist of several standing committees and 
the officers, president, secretary, and treasurer. 

The president. — The successful working of a school board depends to a very 
great extent upon its president, who should be a man or a woman capable of 
presiding over a deliberative body. In those cities where the school board con- 
ducts its business with dispatch the president knows and applies the ordinary 
rules of parliamentary procedure. Many boards waste time because the presi- 
dent fails to enforce even the simplest of parliamentary rules, permitting 
members to speak at any time and upon subjects not before the board. An 
order of business should be adopted, from which there should be no deviation 
except for good reason. 

The president of the board is in most cases elected by the board itself. In 
some cities the president is elected by the people. Too often the president of 
the board of education is considered having functions that he does not have. 
Not infrquently teachers, parents, and others appeal to the board president, 
who legally has no more right to make decisions than any other member. His 
chief function is to preside at board meetings and to sign such papers as he 
may be authorized to sign. It is too true, however, that some presidents of 
school boards attempt to run the schools by virtue of being president of the 
board. Some board presidents even encourage visits from teachers and parents 
with grievances which he himself attempts to settle. Recently the writer 
was in the office of a superintendent who was discussing a matter with a parent. 
Just then the president of the board came in, and after listening for a moment 
to the conversation between the superintendent and parent, he began to talk, 
and soon the superintendent dropped out of the conversation, letting the presi- 
dent of the board settle the question at issue. No doubt the superintendent 
was weak, but it was the theory in that city that the president of the board 
was the most important man in the school system, so that there was nothing 
for the superintendent to do but let the president of the board settle the matter. 
The sooner boards of education and the public in general recognize the fact 



24 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

that the school board president is not an executive officer of the board, that 
he is simply a presiding officer with no more authority than any other board 
member, the sooner will there be fewer tangles in school administration. 

Indeed, the question may be aslied whether it is necessary to elect a member 
of the school board president? If not, who could be made president of the 
board? Thiesen " asks, why not have the superintendent of schools, who is the 
chief executive officer employed to execute the policies of the board, perform 
the duties usually assigned a president? This may seem radical, but in busi- 
ness corporations the chief executive officer is often the president of the board 
of directors. Thiesen says that in his study of the city superintendent and 
the board of education he found nothing that would suggest that an organiza- 
tion whereby the superintendent as chief executive could not fill the position 
of president of the board of education, in addition to his ordinary duties. If 
such an arrangement is feasible, the superintendent of schools would act merely 
as presiding officer and with power to sign such papers as the board might 
authorize. He should, however, have no vote. 

Whether such plan is feasible in school administration will have to be proved 
by trial in a few cities. The purpose here is merely to call attention to what 
may be possible in the organization of boards of education. 

Secretary or clerk. — In 256, or 49.6 per cent, of 516 cities reporting, the sec- 
retary or clerk of the school board is a member of the board, while in 105 cities 
the superintendent of schools serves as secretary, in 44 the superintendent's 
clerk, and in 111 some person not connected with the school system. The tend- 
ency seems to be to employ as secretary some one not a member of the board. 
Though the data are not entirely comparable, information collected in 1915 
shows that in 62.5 per cent of the school boards in 1,277 cities reporting at that 
time the secretary of the board was a member of the board, while in 1921 in 
only 49.6 per cent of the school boards in the 516 cities reporting is the sec- 
retary a member of the board. In 1915 the superintendent of schools was sec- 
retary in 9.3 per cent of tJie cities reporting, and in 1921 in 20.4; in 1915 so 
few places reported that the superintendent's clerk was secretary of the board 
that the number was added to that of outside persons, making 28.1 per cent 
of outside persons employed as secretary. 

Some school boards in the smaller cities, especially in those of 10,000 or 
more population, realizing the vast amount of work there is for a school board 
secretary, employ some one to give all his time to the work, which he can do 
with profit to the school system. His duties consist not merely of recording 
transactions, but of acting as business agent working under the direction of 
the superintendent. Where this plan is in operation, one person, the super- 
intendent, Is held responsible for carrying out the orders of the board relat- 
ing to business matters, instead of a half dozen committees. In several cities 
of about 25,000 population a great saving has been effected by establishing 
a business office, with the secretary of the board in charge. Under this plan 
the board must have all business matters pass through the secretary's office, 
no matter how insignificant. If there is no business director, a committee or 
even a board member may order such supplies as are thought necessary with- 
out any consideration of what funds are available or whether the material is 
purchased at the lowest price possible. 

The president of one school board says that before adopting the plan of 
employing a full-time secretary as business manager a school board member 
would order what he pleased, with the result that the bills exceeded the funds ; 
now no one is permitted to order anything except through the secretary's office. 

" Theisen, " The city superintendent and the board of education." 



THE SCHOOL BOARD. 25 

In most of the smaller cities, especially in those of less than 15,000 popula- 
tion, the superintendent's clerk could well be made the secretary of the board 
if the superintendent is provided with a clerk as he should be. If he is not, a 
Blight addition to the salary paid the secretary of the board would employ a 
capable young woman to act as secretary for both the superintendent and the 
board. Most superintendents, where this plan has been tried, pronounce it 
much better than that of having a member of the board as secretary. The 
following is a typical reply to the question, " What is the advantage of making 
the superintendent's clerk the secretary of the school board?" 

The superintendent becomes the executive head of the school system in the 
full sense of the word, both in respect to professional and business matters. 
In fact, he really becomes a sort of general manager with a threefold function — 
supervisor of instruction, inspector, and business manager. Under proper con- 
ditions, this in nowise interferes with the prerogatives of the school board, but 
it does eliminate the assumed prerogatives of individual members of the board. 
The superintendent must get his authority from the board as a whole or from 
committees to whom definite duties are assigned. 

Instead of our secretary being a school-board member whose private duties 
make it necessary for him to consider his secrtaryship a side issue, we employ 
a man who gives all of his attention to our business. As a consequence the 
business phase of the administration of the schools is " up to the minute," and 
professional matters are not sidetracked on account of the slowness of the de- 
partment. 

Because of better organization and closer correlation between the business 
and professional departments, we are able to keep a cost system the advantage 
of which it would be difficult to overestimate. 

The present arrangement results in an actual financial gain to the school 
district. The salary of one school secretary is less than the combined salaries 
formerly paid to the superintendent's clerk and the school-board secretary. In 
addition to this, money is saved because of more efficient management of mate- 
rial and financial affairs. 

Another superintendent, replying to the same question, says: 

I think that the advantages of making the superintendent's secretary the 
school board's secretary are many. It places the responsibility for all the work 
officially. It lessens red tape materially in that anything that demands imme- 
diate attention of the secretary of the board may now be had, while under the 
plan of having a member of the board serve as secretary for the board it was 
often necessary to go to the secretary's home for much necessary data. One 
advantage Is that all records, minutes, expenditures, cashbooks, check books, 
etc., are now in the superintendent's office, where they may be had at a mo- 
ment's notice. Board members now have a better insight into the books and 
workings of the board, since they do not hesitate to examine the books when 
left in the superintendent's office as public property. 

Among the different duties generally assigned to the secretary are that he 
shall be custodian of records and all written documents belonging to the school 
district ; that he shall keep a correct account with the tax collector or city 
council, give a statement of tax accounts and of finances of school district at 
each regular board meeting ; make an annual report of business transactions 
to the city council or town meeting, or to the public through the press ; prepare 
and forward the annual report of the district to the State superintendent of pub- 
lic Instruction ; prepare and sign orders on the treasurer for payment of bills 
approved by the board; pay the teachers their salaries; have general super- 
vision of all business matters ; attest in writing the execution of all deeds, etc., 
that must be executed by the board ; take inventory annually of all school prop- 
erty ; act as custodian of supplies, keep records of proceedings, and keep financial 
accounts. 

The treasurer. — In only a few cities is the treasurer a member of the school 
board. In many instances, especially in those cities where the school funds are 



26 



ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES, 



appropriated from the city funds, there is no school treasurer, the city treasurer 
being custodian of all the city funds. In cities where the school board is inde 
pendent of the city officials the boards often select some bank or trust company 
as treasurer, which is much better than the plan of electing some individual 
board member. 

Committees. — Though the tendency is toward fe^Yer committees, many boards 
of education are still overburdened with useless committees. Sometimes there 
are as many as there are board members, each member holding a chairmanship. 
The following table gives the number of school boards having committees of 
various sizes: 



Number 

of 

school 

boards. 


Number 

of 
standing 
commit- 
tees. 


Per cent. 


Number 

of 
school 
boards. 


Number 

of 
standing 
commit- 
tees. 


Per cent. 


145 
10 
24 
65 
64 
86 
09 



1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 


28.1 
1.9 
4.6 
12.6 
12.5 
16.6 
13.3 


29 
10 
12 

1 
1 
1 


7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
14 


.5.6 

1.9 

2.3 

.2 

.2 

.2 



Among the many different committees reported are: Finance, buildings, 
teachers, auditing, visiting, textbooks and supplies, complaints, janitor, sani- 
tation, promotion, manual training, high school, discipline, athletics, medical 
inspection, vocational education, courses of study. Clearly the functions of 
most of these committees, as those on promotion, manual training, courses of 
study, and discipline, duplicate the function of the superintendent, principals, 
or teachers. 

In general a board of education needs no committees. If the superintendent 
is given the power he should have in the preparation of the school budget, in 
the selection of teachers, in the selection of textbooks, in the preparation of 
courses of study, in the promotion of pupils, and in other business and pro- 
fessional matters he does not need the assistance of a committee. He should 
formulate his recommendations and present them to the school board for ap- 
proval or rejection, since it can discuss and pass upon the recommendation of 
the superintendent as well as can a committee of three, the usual size of stand- 
ing committees. When the work is done by committees there is usually but 
little discussion by the entire board ; some of the members may be almost 
entirely ignorant of what the others are doing. Each member should give 
his serious attention to every recommendation presented for consideration. 
This is not the case in most cities where work is parceled out to committees. 
Often a committee is nothing but the mouthpiece of the president of the board 
who appoints it. 

Practically every school survey that treats of the committee system, and every 
study of city school administration, points out the need of few, or even of no, 
standing committees, and recommends that where there are committees the 
board as a whole study and discuss the reports of the committees. For ex- 
ample, the Janesville, Wis., school survey staff says: 

With a small board there is little need of standing committees. The present 
board is to be commended for having reduced the number of these. Too often 
committees undertake work which should be left to the professional judgment 
of those whom the board employs to manage its school system. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT. 27 

Dr. Frank W. Ballou, superintendent of schools, Washington, D. C, after 
an investigation in 72 cities concluded as follows regarding committees : " 

The few members of a standing committee play altogether too large a part 
in the decisions of the board, as shown by the fact that (1) more than 80 
per cent of the committees are minority committees, and (2) the reports of 
committees, whether large or small, through necessity are seldom discussed 
by the whole board. 

The committee organization permits the exercise of pernicious influences, 
because (1) of the prevailing method of appointment of members by the presi- 
dent of the board because (2) of its closed meetings and because (3) it is easier 
to deal unscrupulously with a small committee than it is with a whole board. 

The committee system violates four principles of effective administration, as 
follows: (1) The duties of each committee can not be clearly defined, because 
the functions of committees overlap, due to the fact that committees are usually 
organized according to no known principle of organization. (2) This makes 
it impossible to fix the responsibility of each committee, because no one knows 
just what its duties are. (3) The absence of any well-defined responsibilities 
makes it impossible to hold the committee responsible for its acts. (4) The 
committee system tends to confuse lay control with professional and executive 
management, because the prevailing practice is to refer the discharge of execu- 
tive functions to committees of the board rather than to the board's professional 
executives. For these reasons the practice of boards of education of organizing 
into standing committees for the transaction of their business must be con- 
demned. 

If there are committees they should present facts for the consideration of 
the entire board, but in only 120 of the 371 cities whose boards of education have 
committee organization are facts only presented ; in 138 specific recommenda- 
tions are made ; and in 113 others sometimes facts and sometimes specific recom- 
mendations are made. In 300 cities the committees are sometimes given power 
to act. This should never be. Committees shold not pass upon matters to be 
later rubber stamped by the board; neither should any committee attempt to 
carry out policies. The executive officer of the school board should do this 
himself or delegate some one of his assistants to do so. The superintendent 
of schools should attend all committee meetings, but 209 of the 516 superin- 
tendents reporting do not. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT. 

The most important office is that of superintendent of schools. If a good 
superintendent is elected, and if the board delegates to him the management of 
the schools, there should be but little cause for complaint from those who 
believe that the schools should be managed in the interests of the children. 
The position is important because the superintendent is the officer who carries 
out the wishes of the board ; he not only carries out their wishes but submits 
plans for the management of the schools for the board's consideration. 

RELATIONS. 

The relation of a school board to its superintendent does not differ materially 
from the relation that a board of bank directors sustains to the cashier or the 
president of a bank, or that a board of directors of any private corporation 
sustains to the superintendent it employs. The stockholders in a private cor- 
poration elect a board of directors to look after their interests in the conduct of 
the enterprise. These directors know but little about the technical details of 
the business they are empowered to administer. Few, if any, could do the 
work of one of the clerks or mechanics, much less supervise it ; so they employ a 



" The Appointment of Teachers in Cities, pp. 121-2. 



28 



ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 



superintendent to do this and hold him responsible for results. If he can not 
conduct the business so as to declare dividends, he must show why he can not. 
The superintendent being the executive officer of the board all supervisors, 
principals, teachers, and others should report to the board through the superin- 
tendent, also through the proper administrative channels so that there may 
be no " crossing of wires." The superintendent should not ignore the supervisors 
or principals when he gives instructions to the teachers, but should communi- 
cate with them through the supervisors or principals. The proper relations 
in a small city school system may be graphically represented as follows : 



People 



Board of Education 



Superintendent 



Supervisors 



Janitors 



Att. Officer 




Principalj 



Teachers 



Pupils 



Parents 




Clerk 



Doctor 



Nurse 



The people elect school-board members to serve their interests, but the aver- 
age school-board member, like the average member of a board of directors of 
a private corporation, knows nothing of the technical aspect of the work; yet 
it sometimes happens that school boards or individual members of the board 
attempt to do the things they are paying the superintendent to do. 

In the business world many cases of failure are due largely to the fact that 
the board of managers attempts to dictate in regard to matters of which it is 
entirely ignorant. Corporations have failed because the board of directors made 
its superintendent a figurehead. In brief, no board of directors, whether of a 
public or a private corporation, should attempt to do the work it is paying an 
expert to do. 

POWERS AND DUTIES. 

The powers and duties of city school superintendents should be similar to 
those of the superintendent employed by the directors of a private corporation, 
but often he is considered merely a teacher, this idea having arisen when the 
superintendent was nothing more than a head teacher to look after discipline 
and other details around the school buildings. This idea still prevails in some 
few of the smaller cities, but the superintendent's powers and responsibilities 
have been and are being much enlarged by school boards themselves, and by 
State laws regarding the duties of school superintendents, though the laws 



THE SUPERINTENDENT. 29 

are usually inadequate. The following is a summary of the powers and duties 
as prescribed by the general laws of the States that define the powers and 
duties of the city school superintendent : 

Alabama. — The city superintendent of schools shall be the chief executive 
officer of the city board of education, and shall see that the laws relating to 
the schools and the rules and regulations of the city board of education are 
carried into effect. 

The city superintendent of schools shall explain the true intent and meaning 
of the school laws, and of the rules and regulations of the city boards of 
education, and of the State board of education subject to the provisions of 
this act. He shall decide, without expense to the parties concerned, all 
controversies and disputes involving the rules and regulations of the city 
board of education, and the proper administration of the public schools. He 
shall have authority to administer oaths and to examine under oath witnesses 
in any matter pertaining to the public schools of the city, and to cause the 
examination to be reduced to writing. Any person who having been sworn or 
affirmed by him to tell the truth, and who willfully gives false testimony, 
shall be guilty of perjury and shall be punished accordingly. 

The city superintendent of schools, subject to the provisions of this act, shall 
recommend for approval and adoption by the city board of education the 
kind, grade, and location of schools to be established and maintained. 

The city superintendent of schools, subject to the provisions of this act, shall 
recommend for approval and adoption by the city board of education policies 
adopted to promote the educational interests of the city and rules and regula- 
tions for the conduct of the scliools. 

The city superintendent of schools shall nominate all employees of the 
board, and all persons so nominated for teaching or supervising positions shall 
hold certificates issued by the State board of education. 

The city superintendent of schools, subject to the regulations from time to 
time of the city board of education and in accordance with the provisions of 
this act, shall outline a building program adequate to meet the needs of the 
schools in the city, and shall submit the same for approval and adoption by the 
city board of education. 

The city superintendent of schools shall recommend to the city board of 
education for condemnation school buildings which are insanitary and unfit 
for use. He shall recommend all repairs, purchase of playgrounds, school 
grounds, school sites, and buildings, or the sale of the same, and shall prepare, 
or cause to be prepared, ail plans and specifications for the remodeling of old 
buildings and the construction of new buildings. He shall recommend in his 
discretion to the board of education an architect or architects to assist in 
the preparation of plans and specifications for remodeling old buildings, for 
the construction of new buildings, and shall supervise such remodeling and 
construction. He shall approve in writing all contracts of whatever kind 
entered into by the city board of education. 

The city superintendent of schools, subject to the provisions of this act, shall 
prepare rules and regulations for grading and standardizing the public schools, 
and shall recommend the same for approval by the city board of education. 

The city superintendent of schools, subject to the provisions of this act, shall 
prepare courses of study for the schools of the city, and shall submit the same 
for approval and adoption by the city board of education. Printed copies of the 
courses of study shall be supplied every teacher and every interested citizen of 
the city or town. The city superintendent of schools shall nominate in writing 
for appointment by the city board of education, all principals, teachers, super- 
visors, attendance officers, janitors, and all other regular employees of the board, 
and shall assign to them their positions, transfer them as the needs of the schools 
require, recommend them for promotion, suspend them for cause, and recommend 
them for dismissal. 

The city superintendent of schools, subject to the provisions of this act, shall 
organize institutes for teachers and for citizens. He shall organize and direct 
the reading circle work, advise teachers as to further study and professional 
reading, and assist parents and teachers in acquiring knowledge of the aims and 
work of the schools. 

The city superintendent of schools shall visit the schools, observe the manage- 
ment and instruction, and^ive suggestions for the improvement of the same. He 
shall advise with principals and teachers, and shall endeavor in every way to 
promote public interest and improve educational conditions. 
90263°— 22 3 



30 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

The city superintendent of schools, subject to the provisions of this act, shall 
prepare forms and blanks upon which principals, teachers, supervisors, attend- 
ance officers, janitors, and other regular employees shall make such reports as 
shall be required and shall submit the same for approval to the city board of 
education. 

The city superintendent of schools, subject to the provisions of this act, shall 
prepare the annual school budget provided for in article 8 of this act, and shall 
submit the same for approval and adoption by the city board of education. He 
shall in every way seek to secure adequate funds for the support and develop- 
ment of the schools. 

The city superintendent of schools shall direct the taking of the biennial 
census provided for in article 8 of this act. He shall cause the census to be 
retaken in whole or in part when directed to do so by the State superintendent of 
education. The city superintendent of schools shall require the enumerators to 
make their report to him not later than August 10, following the date of taking 
the census, and on or before the 15tli day of August following the city superin- 
tendent of schools shall make his report of such census to the county superintend- 
ent of education. He shall retain a duplicate of the same for the files in his own 
office. 

The city superintendent of schools shall recommend the employment of one or 
more attendance officers, subject to the provisions of this act, and the rules of 
the city board of education, and shall see to it that the provisions for school 
attendance set out in article 15 of this act are enforced. 

The city superintendent of schools shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, and 
submit to the city board of education for adoption all reports required by the 
State board of education, and he shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, and 
submit to the city board of education a school report as provided in article 8 of 
this act. 

The city superintendent of schools, acting under the rules and regulations of 
the city board of education, shall be responsible for the administration of the 
office of superintendent of schools, and he shall see that all regular appointees 
of the city board of education devote their entire time to their duties. 

The city superintendent of schools shall perform such other duties as are 
assigned to him elsewhere in this chapter or may be assigned to him in accord- 
ance with law. 

Calif ornia. — The superintendent of schools in every city school district gov- 
erned by a city board of education and employing 70 or more teachers must hold 
at least one teachers' institute in each year. He shall have authority to issue 
work permits. 

Idaho — The superintendent shall be the executive officer of the board, with 
such powers and duties as they may prescribe, together with such powers and 
duties as are now or may hereafter be prescribed by the laws of the State. 

Indiana. — It shall be the duty of the city, town, and county superintendents to 
visit each year the teachers under their charge and supervision, and from per- 
sonal inspection and otherwise make an itemized statement and grading of the 
success of each teacher under their charge. 

The superintendent shall have the power to appoint and discharge all prin- , 
cipals, supervisors, assistants, and teachers authorized by the board subject to 
the limitations in this act stated and shall report to the board annually and 
oftener if required as to all matters under his supervision : Provided, That the 
board of school commissioners shall approve of the appointment of assistants, 
principals, supervisors, and teachers unless four of such members disapprove of 
the same. He may be required by the board to attend any or all of its meetings 
and may take part in the deliberations but shall not vote. He shall select and 
report to the board all charts, maps, textbooks, and apparatus to be used in the 
schools of said city except the high schools, normal, and manual training schools, 
conforming, however, so far as may be to the provisions of the general law of 
the State of Indiana governing schoolbooks. In like manner he shall report 
to the board all textbooks, maps, charts, and apparatus to be used in the high 
schools, normal, and manual training schools, Avhich charts, maps, textbooks, 
and apparatus shall have first been selected by a committee consisting of said 
superintendent of schools, the principal of the high schools, the principal of the 
normal school, the principal of the manual training school, and the head of each 
department in which such maps, charts, textbooks, or apparatus is to be used. 

Kansas. — In cities of the first and second class, the superintendent shall 
have charge and control of the public schools of the city, subject to the orders. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT. 31 

rules, reffiilations, and bj'-laws of the board. He shall be chairman of the 
examining committee. 

Kentucky. — In cities of the first and second class the board of education may, 
on the nomination of the superintendent of schools, appoint aa many assistant 
superintendents as it may deem necessary, whose compensation shall be fixed 
by the board, and who may be removed by the superintendent with the ap- 
proval of the board. The superintendent of schools shall qualify by taking 
the oath prescribed by law. He shall have general supervision, subject to 
the control of the board, of the course of instruction, discipline, and conduct of 
the schools, textbooks, and studies ; and all appointments, promotions, and trans- 
fers of teachers and truant officers, and introduction and change of textbooks 
and apparatus shall be made only upon the recommendation of the superin- 
tendent and the approval of the board. The superintendent shall have power 
to suspend any teacher or truant officer for cause deemed by him sufficient, 
and the board of education shall take such action upon the restoration or 
removal of such person as it may deem proper. All appointments and promo- 
tions of teachers shall be made upon the basis of merit, to be ascertained 
as far as practicable, in cases of appointments, by examination, and in cases 
of promotion, by the length and character of service. Examination for ap- 
pointment shall be conducted by the superintendent in accordance with the 
State law for the certification of teachers, and under such regulations as may 
be made by the board. 

The superintendent of schools shall devote himself exclusively to the duties 
of his office, and shall have power to appoint clerks, whose number and sala- 
ries shall be fixed by the board, and shall have power to remove the same; 
shall exercise a general supervision over the schools of the city, examine their 
condition and progress, and shall keep himself informed as to the progress 
of education in other cities. He shall advise himself of the need of the exten- 
sion of the school system of the city, shall make reports from time to time as 
may be fixed by the rules or directed by the board, and shall be responsible to 
the board for the condition of the instruction and discipline of the schools. 
The term " teachers " as used herein shall include supervisors, supervising prin- 
cipals, and principals. 

Massachusetts. — The superintendent shall, under the direction of the school 
committee, have the care and supervision of the public schools, and shall be 
the executive officer of the school committee. He shall assist the school com- 
mittee in keeping its records and accounts and in making such reports as are 
required by law. He shall recommend teachers to the school committee, and 
shall also recommend textbooks and courses of study to the school committee. 

Michigan. — In all villages and cities organized as graded-school districts the 
board of education must employ a superintendent who shall have the following 
duties: (a) To recommend in writing all teachers necessary for the schools, 
and to suspend any teacher for cause until the board of education, or a com- 
mittee of such board, may consider such suspension; (&) to classify and control 
the promotion of pupils; (c) to recommend to the board the best methods of 
arranging the courses of study and the proper textbooks to be used; (d) to 
make reports in writing to the board of education and to the superintendent of 
public instruction annually, or oftener if required, in regard to all matters 
pertaining to the educational interests of the district; (e) to supervise and 
direct the work of the teachers; (f) to assist the board in all matters per- 
taining to the general welfare of the school and to perform such other duties 
as the board may determine. 

Montana. — The superintendent shall have supervision of the schools of the 
district, under the supervision of the board of trustees. He shall be the ex- 
ecutive officer of the board and shall perform such duties as the board of 
trustees may prescribe. 

New Jersey. — The superintendent of schools shall, when required by the 
board of education, devote himself exclusively to the duties of his office. He 
shall have general supervision over the schools of the district and shall examine 
into their conditions and progress, and report thereon from time to time as di- 
rected by the board of education. He shall have such other powers and perform 
such other duties as may be prescribed by said board. He may appoint and 
remove clerks in his office, but the number and salaries of such clerks shall 
be determined by said board. Said superintendent shall render annually, on 
or before the 1st day of August, to the commissioner of education, and in the 



32 ADMINISTRATIOIT OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

manner and form prescribed by him, a report of such matters relating to the 
schools under his supervision as shall be required by said commissioner of 
education. 

No principal or teacher shall be appointed, transferred, or dismissed, nor the 
amount of his or her salary fixed ; no school term shall be determined, nor 
shall any course of study be adopted or altered, nor textbooks selected, except 
by a majority vote of the whole number of members of the board of education. 

The superintendent of schools may, with the approval of the president of the 
board of education, suspend any assistant superintendent, principal, or teacher, 
and shall forthwith report such suspension to the board of education, which 
board shall take such action for the restoration or removal of such assistant 
superintendent, principal, or teacher as it shall deem proper: Provided, That 
such action shall be by a majority vote of all the members of said board. 

New York. — The superintendents of schools of a city shall possess, subject to 
the by-laws of the board of education, the following powers and be charged with 
the following duties: 

1. To enforce all provisions of law and rules and regulations relating to the 
management of the schools and other educational, social, and recreational 
activities under the direction of the board of education ; to be the chief execu- 
tive officer of such board and the educational system ; and to have a seat in the 
board of education and the right to speak on all matters before the board, but 
not to vote. 

2. To prepare the content of each course of study authorized by the board of 
education, but in a city having a board of superintendents the content of each 
of such courses shall be prepared and recommended by the board of superin- 
tendents, submitted to the board of education for its approval, and when thus 
approved the superintendent or board of superintendents, as the case may be, 
shall cause such course of study to be used in the grades, classes, and schools 
for which they are authorized. 

3. To recommend suitable lists of textbooks to be used in the schools, but in a 
city having a board of superintendents such board of superintendents shall rec- 
ommend to the board of education such lists. 

4. To have supervision and direction of associate, district, and other superin- 
tendents, directors, supervisors, principals, teachers, lecturers, medical inspec- 
tors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors, and other persons employed in the 
management of the schools or the other educational activities of the city author- 
ized by this chapter and under the direction and management of the board of 
education ; to transfer teachers from one school to another, or from one grade 
of the course of study to another grade in such course, and to report immediately 
such transfers to said board for its consideration and action, but in a city 
having a board of superintendents such transfers shall be made upon the recom- 
mendation of such board ; to report to said board of education violations of 
regulations and cases of insubordination ; and to suspend an associate, district, 
or other superintendent, director, supervisor, expert, principal, teacher, or other 
employee until the next regular meeting of the board when all facts relating to 
the case shall be submitted to the board for its consideration and action. 

5. To have supervision and direction over the enforcement and observance of 
the courses of study, the examination and promotion of pui)ils, and over all 
other matters pertaining to playgrounds, medical inspection, recreation, and 
social center work, libraries, lectures, and all the other educational activities 
and interests under the management, direction, and control of the board of edu- 
cation, but in a city having a board of superintendents rules and regulations for 
the promotion and graduation of pupils shall be made by the board. 

6. To issue such licenses to teachers, principals, directors, and other members 
of the teaching and supervising staff as may be required under the regulations 
of the board of education in cities in which such board requires its teachers 
to hold qualifications in addition to or in advance of the minimum qualifi- 
cations required under this chapter. In a city having a board of examiners, 
such licenses shall be issued on the recommendation of such board. 

North Dakota. — The superintendent of schools shall, subject to the final 
authority of the board, supervise the administration of the course of study, 
visit schools, examine classes, and have general supervision of the professional 
work of the schools, including the holding of teachers' meetings and the classi- 
fication of teachers. The superintendent, from time to time, shall make re- 
ports to the board of education embodying the recommendations relative to 
the employment of teachers and janitors, adoption of textbooks, changes in the 



THE SUPERINTENDENT. 33 

course of study, enforcement of discipline, and general school matters, and shall 
also make such other reports and perform such other duties as the board of 
education may direct and delegate. 

Ohio. — The .superintendent, subject to the approval and confirmation of the 
board, may appoint all the teachers, and for cause suspend any person thus ap- 
pointed until the board or a committee thereof considers such suspension. Any 
city or exempted village board of education, upon a three-fourths vote of its 
full membership, may so employ any teacher whom the superintendent refuses 
to appoint. Such superintendent shall visit the schools under his charge, direct 
and assist teachers in the performance of their duties, classify and control the 
promotion of pupils, and perform such other duties as the board determines. 
He must report to the board annually, and oftener if required, as to all mutters 
under his supervision, and may be required by it to attend any and all of its 
meetings. He may take part in its deliberations but shall not vote. 

Pennsylvania. — The superintendent shall have a seat in the board and the 
right to speak but without vote ; he shall see that the branches prescribed by 
law are taught ; shall report to the State superintendent, and shall perform such 
other duties as may be required by the board. 

South Dakota. — The superintendent, subject to the rules and regulations of 
the board, shall have general supervision of the schools of the corporation. 

Vermont. — The superintendent shall visit the schools of the town at least 
once each term, and oftener if the board of school directors so direct, note the 
method of instruction and government, inform himself of the progress of the 
pupils, and give necessary advice to teachers. He shall, on visiting a school, 
observe the condition of the schoolhouse, outbuildings, and grounds, ascertain 
if such school is properly supplied with maps, reference books, and apparatus, 
and its pupils with necessary textbooks, and make such recommendations to 
the board of school directors as to the conditions and needs of the school as he 
may deem necessary. 

Wisconsin. — In all cities except cities of the first class the superintendent's 
duties shall be : To examine and license teachers ; to supervise the administra- 
tion of the courses of study ; to have general supervision of the professional 
work of the schools of the city, including the holding of teachers' meetings 
and the promotion of pupils ; from time to time to make a written report to 
the board of education or board of school commissioners embodying such recom- 
mendations relative to the employment of teachers, adoption of textbooks, 
changes in the course of study, enforcement of discipline, and such other 
matters as said superintendent may deem for the best interests and welfare 
of the city schools ; to make such other reports and to perform such other duties 
as the board of education may direct and which are not in conflict with the 
provisions of this act. 

Since only a few State laws define in more than a general way the duties 
of city school superintendents, whatever duties are definitely assigned him 
must be assigned by the city board of education. From a study of the rules 
and regulations of 50 of the smaller cities regarding the duties of the super- 
intendent it is evident that many boards do not consider the superintendent 
the person to perform certain duties. The following shows the duties assigned 
by the 50 boards and the number of boards requiring each : 

Act as executive officer of the board, 36 ; have general supervision of in- 
struction, 50 ; recommend teachers, 10 ; assign and transfer teachers, 12 ; 
recommend dismissal of teachers, 5 ; keep a record of teachers' work, 20 ; sus- 
pend employees, 12 ; attend board meetings, 21 ; make suggestions to board for 
improvement of schools, 25 ; suspend pupils, 45 ; supervise promotion of 
pupils, 35 ; prepare courses of study, 12 ; recommend textbooks, 3 ; hold teachers' 
meetings, 25; visit schools as often as possible, 45; keep informed of school 
conditions elsewhere, 35 ; make monthly or annual report to school board, 35 ; 
hear complaints of parents, 6 ; fill temporary vacancies, 20 ; supervise jani- 
tors, 20. 

Though few of the rules and regulations give the superintendent power to 
nominate teachers, 483, or 92.8 per cent, of 520 superintendents reporting 
nominate teachers — 228 to a teachers' committee and 255 directly to the board. 



34 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

In 1915 only 72 per cent of the superintendents reporting nominated teachers. 
T-lie shortage of teacliers during the war period caused many school boards 
that had not been consulting the superintendent regarding the election of 
teachers to turn to him to look up teachers. Several superintendents have 
reported that the shortage of teachers was the means of getting the authority 
to select the teaching corps. It is not probable that many of the school boards 
that have thus given the superintendent authority to nominate teachers will 
return to their former plan of not consulting him. 

In many of the cities where the superintendent nominates teachers he is 
permitted to visit, at the expense of the board, the schools taught by the appli- 
cants, also the normal schools and colleges the applicants are attending, to 
inquire into their classroom work and their general qualifications. In several 
cities that have built up most efficient corps of instructors the teacher's qualifi- 
cations are first looked into by the principal under whom she is to teach. The 
principal then indicates two or three of the most promising, from whom the 
superintendent makes his selection. By this plan a superintendent does not 
select a teacher not agreeable to the principal for whom she is to teach. 

Of the 50 rules examined, only three definitely require the superintendent to 
select textbooks. In practice, however, 485, or 93.2 per cent, of 520 superin- 
tendents reporting recommend the textbooks to be used. In some instances 
this is done only after a committee composed of principals and teachers has 
made a recommendation to the superintendent. 

One of the rules of most school boards is that the superintendent shall visit 
the schools as often as his other duties will permit. The only other duties 
that should keep a superintendent from visiting classrooms are these : Preparing 
for teachers' meetings ; visiting schools in other cities ; preparing outlines and 
courses of study ; preparing reports for the school board ; answering such cor- 
respondence as can not be answered by his secretary ; interpreting statistics, 
etc., all of which require part, but not all, of the superintendent's time. In a 
small city school system the superintendent can, if he has clerical assistance, 
be out visiting his schools at least two-thirds of the time. One of the com- 
plaints teachers often make against a superintendent is that he does not visit 
their classrooms often enough to be familiar with their work or be of any 
assistance. The best schools in the small cities are those where the superintend- 
ent keeps in touch with classroom work and aids his teachers in every pos- 
sible way. It is true that a superintendent should be more than a teacher of 
teachers, but it is very doubtful whether there are many small city schools 
that do not require a superintendent to help train the teachers and to keep 
them progressive, even if they have had much professional training. 

None of the 50 rules examined require the superintendent to submit an an- 
nual school budget, yet in practice, 252, or 50 per cent, of 505 superintendents 
reporting say that they compile the budget for the consideration of the school 
board. The school boards not permitting this expect the superintendent to be 
the educational leader, but fail to see that educational and financial adminis- 
tration are so closely bound together that they can not be separated. 

There are no specific provisions in any of the 50 rules and regulations which 
require the superintendent to approve or disapprove of an architect's plan for 
buildings. Though no data were collected, it may be safely asserted that su- 
perintendents in about half of the smaller cities are called upon for sugges- 
tions regarding the plans for new buildings, but it is doubtful whether many 
have authority to approve or to disapprove. There would be fewer school build- 
ings illy adapted for school use if school superintendents — even teachers, jani- 
tors, and others — were consulted more frequently regarding certain features 
of school buildings. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT. 35 

A superintendent who performs the duties assigned to him may or may not 
be efficient. If he does nothing more than obey the rules laid down by a school 
board he is a failure, since there are many things not definitely assigned just 
as essential to efficient management and progress of a scliool system as those 
that are expressed in definite rules and regulations. 

The following paragraphs treat briefly of some of the duties usually tacitly 
assigned by board members and the community, and some of the character- 
istics demanded by a board and community of their superintendent. It is 
generally agreed that any superintendent who can not meet these demands 
is unsuited to the position. 

One of the duties of a superintendent is that of keeping the community 
interested in its schools. The success of any school system has been found 
to depend largely upon public opinion. It is the history of schools everywhere 
that reforms can not be forced upon the people; that they must be educated 
to the necessity of having better schools. In many communities amply able 
to support open-air classes, kindergarten classes, etc., there are no such classes 
becaue the taxpayers do not know the value of these things. Health super- 
vision would be introduced into more schools if the people were made to see 
the need for it. Some communities have been slow in introducing drawing 
and manual training work because they are not informed as to its value. 
Several years ago a school board introduced the subject of drawing. Many of 
the taxpayers thought it a useless expenditure to employ a drawing supervisor, 
but the superintendent kept the matter before the people, and when he showed 
results all complaint ceased. 

In another city some influential people had the board discharge the music 
teacher on the ground that if parents wanted their children taught music 
they should employ a private teacher. Only hard work on the part of the 
superintendent convinced the community of the value of music in the schools. 
These are extreme cases, but they illustrate the necessity for the superintendent 
to keep his community informed and interested. 

In a certain city once noted for its backward schools, the superintendent 
never once looked outside the four walls of his office except when he visited 
the classrooms, which was seldom. He could not see beyond the routine of 
office work. He did not run his school; it ran him around a beaten path, 
which grew deeper each year. When the clock struck 4 he went to his room 
to rest after the dull routine of the day. Whenever asked to address a public 
meeting he refused. Within a short time he had cut himself off from the life 
of the city. His work ran along for several years without any advancement 
in the schools. People grumbled about their school tax, which was low. The 
cost per capita was much below the average per capita cost for small cities. 
Finally, several progressive citizens and one or two school-board members be- 
gan to inquire into the school system and to look about the country to see what 
other cities of the same size were doing for the schools. It is needless to say 
that the superintendent who had not mingled with the business and profes- 
sional men of the city, who had not identified himself with the life of the com- 
munity, who had not tried to keep the people informed, was dismissed at the 
expiration of his term. 

His successor, by becoming acquainted with the people, by taking part in the 
life of the community, by becoming identified with the chamber of commerce, 
and by quietly calling the attention of all the people he met to the needs of 
the schools, soon aroused an interest among the taxpayers to such an extent 
that the tax rate was almost doubled within three years. There was not as 
much grumbling as there had been when the rate was low. The superintendent 



36 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

touched the pride of the people by showing them that neighboring towns were 
spending more per pupil for their schools. 

Progressive school boards are now demanding that the superintendent keep 
the people informed of school conditions ; that he inform the public by care- 
fully compiled data whether the schools are turning out a good product, whether 
they are doing this most economically, and whether they could still turn out a 
better product with an increased school budget. 

The school systems that are liberally supported secure this support because 
the supermtendent reports to the people, in a businesslike way, actual condi- 
tions — the shortcomings and the progress of the schools. For further discus- 
sion of the subject of school publicity see page 67, school reports. 

One of the great problems in school administration is that of running the 
schools economically, not on a less tax rate but with the purpose of obtaining 
the greatest possible efficiency from the funds in hand. A business manager or 
a board may know more than a superintendent about purchasing janitor sup- 
plies and repairing buildings economically, but the superintendent should know 
w^hat instruction to buy, how much and in what subjects; how many pupils to 
be assigned a teacher, how many supervisors to be employed, how many daily 
recitations a high-school teacher should conduct, and how many hours a high- 
school pupil should carry. All these involve the expenditure of money. In 
fact, a superintendent must be held responsible for the expenditure of at least 
60 or 70 per cent of the operating expenses of a school system. 

A superintendent who wishes to make the best use of the funds appropriated 
for instruction must determine whether the city can afford to have 25 high- 
school pupils in a division while each of the grade teachers has classes of 50 or 
60 pupils. He must decide how much the annual cost will be reduced with 30 
instead of 25 in a division. In a high school enrolling 600 students 3 fewer 
teachers will be required with 30 pupils in a division than with 25, making a 
saving of $4,800 a year. Is a superintendent justified in spending $4,800 a year 
additional simply because he thinks better work can be done with 25 than with 
30 pupils in a class? Possibly better work can be done; but the question is, 
How should the $4,800 be used? If there is only a certain amount of money 
available and if the lower grades are crowded, there is but one answer. 

If the cost per capita is low, the fact should be shown. Statistics regarding 
cost per pupil in 40 or 50 cities can be easily estimated from the fiscal statistics 
in the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education. Does the cost 
per pupil fall below the median? If so, why? The public should be required 
to answer this. If the cost falls above the median, what then? The superin- 
tendent must show that the schools under his supervision are turning out an 
efficient product and that to decrease the cost per capita would handicap the 
work of the schools. Among the points that have been discussed in one or two 
reports are : 1. What are the schools trying to do? 2. Are they doing what they 
are trying to do? 3. Do you approve their policy? 4. Is their policy carried out 
economically? 5. Are they administered efficiently? 6. Can the city afford to con- 
tinue the present policy? 7. Can the city afford not to continue it? A school 
board that requires its superintendent to set forth facts on these and other 
essential points commands the respect of the public and secures their coopera- 
tion more easily than those boards that do not require the superintendent to 
make a clear-cut analysis of school conditions for the stockholders of the 
school corporation — the taxpayers. 

In a small city a superintendent can not be totally oblivious to the financial 
phase. If he is, he will soon bring his board to bankruptcy, or as only so much 
money is available for the schools in any city, he will not secure the best 
results from the funds appropriated. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT. 37 

To illustrate further why the superintendent should make a study of relative 
values: How many recitations a week should a high-school pupil carry? Most 
schools require 20 ; a few require more. If 20 recitations a week are better for 
a pupil than 25, there is not only an educational loss but a great financial one in 
those schools requiring the latter number. In a high school of 300 students re- 
citing 25 times a week in divisions of 25 pupils each, it will require two more 
teachers, or an addition of approximately $3,200 to the cost of instruction. 

Several years ago the number of recitations in a high school was reduced to 
17 a week, thus saving $4,000 a year. In making a study of the educational 
gains and losses the superintendent of schools says that, while no definite or 
even reliable answer can be found in mere opinion, the opinions of the principals 
and heads of departments were about equally divided for and against, with a 
slight tendency, on the whole, to favor the plan of 17 hours a week. If 17 reci- 
tations a week produce as good results, it is evident that there is a great 
financial waste in many schools. 

What will be the educational loss if a high-school teacher instructs six classes 
a day instead of five? What will be the financial gain? With six recitations a 
day instead of five there will be a saving of approximately several thousand 
dollars in a high school enrolling 600 pupils. Could that amount be used so that 
there would be better educational results than can be secured by having a 
teacher instruct but five classes a day? The question for the superintendent 
to determine is, however, which is best with the funds on hand. 

A board endeavoring to determine the efficiency of a superintendent should 
ascertain whether he makes a study of relative values or whether he makes 
a " hobby " of certain work, recommending the appropriation of funds for this, 
irrespective of the needs of other work. The high school may be overempha- 
sized in comparison with the grades, or it may be the reverse. Not that too 
much attention can be given to either, but that relatively too much attention 
may be given to the one at the expense of the other when only a certain 
amount of money is available. 

Another test of a superintendent's efficiency is whether he is gaining the 
confidence of pupils, parents, and teachers. A new superintendent may for some 
reason not gain the confidence of the public at the beginning of his term, 
especially in a city where it is necessary to make reforms, but even then, if 
he is the man to nmke the reforms, he will finally secure the cooperation of 
people in the community. The school board in a certain city, becoming con- 
vinced that their schools were the poorest in the State, engaged a superin- 
tendent after much opposition from some politicians with whom the former 
superintendent had been closely associated. The board, not wishing the new 
superintendent to be hampered, elected him for a term of four years, telling 
him that they were leaving it to him to improve the schools. They told him 
that there would be much opposition to his trying new policies; that he would 
no doubt find it necessary to recommend the dismissal of some teachers who 
had inffuential friends ; and that he would have to establish law and order in 
several of the school buildings. 

At first he made many enemies, but before his term had expired he had con- 
vinced the people that he had pursued the right course. This incident is 
mentioned to show that because a superintendent's policies are not at first 
approved by the people is not a necessary reason for considering him a failure 
in that conmiunity. To be successful he must, however, within a reasonable 
time secure their confidence and cooperation. 

Whether the superintendent administers his affairs in an orderly way is 
one of the criteria by which board members often judge him. There are super- 



38 ADMINISTRATION- OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

intendents who possess a thorough knowledge of methods of teaching and who 
are well grounded in the principles of school administration, yet who do not 
manage their affairs so as to make every minute count. It must be remarked 
in this connection, however, that a superintendent may plan a day's work with 
the utmost care and then have all his plans upset by something that demands 
his immediate attention. He may even have promised to do a certain thing at 
a certain time, but other duties of greater and more pressing importance compel 
him to change plans and cancel engagements. The test should be whether the 
superintendent attends at once to those things demanding immediate attention 
and is able to discriminate between the fundamental and the trivial. 

For a superintendent to administer his affairs in an orderly way he must 
have a good memory not only for large affairs but for details. A superintendent 
who possessed splendid ideals and who remembered only the large outlines of 
his work failed a's a superintendent because he did not remember details. He 
would meet a group of teachers and tell them something he wanted done. A 
week later he would give other orders, forgetting what he had previously said. 
The school board would instruct him to investigate certain matters. He would 
proceed with admirable spirit, but would forget some necessary detail. The 
teachers complained that they never knew what was expected of them, because 
he issued so many contradictory orders. Though a truthful man, this superin- 
tendent was accused of falsehood, because he did not remember promises he had 
made. School boards, as a rule, do not condemn a superintendent if he does not 
remember all the details connected with the administration of schools, but they 
do expect him to have in mind sufficient detail to fill in the larger outlines of his 
work. 

In a few instances board members have been known to refuse to help reelect 
a superintendent who has not agreed with them on certain points. This in itself 
is no valid reason for not reelecting a superintendent unless the superintendent 
has made the issue a personal and not a professional matter. In some instances 
board members themselves make the issue a personal matter. Among progres- 
sive school boards all questions relating to school work discussed by board mem- 
bers with the superintendent are considered on a professional and not a personal 
basis. The personal element is eliminated. Where this is done the schools are 
undoubtedly better, A school-board member in a city that has good schools, 
speaking of the superintendent, said that he did not like the man personally, but 
that he would vote for his reelection because he considered him a most excellent 
superintendent. Another board member in a city where the schools are below 
average said of the superintendent : " I know that he is not securing the best 
results, but I like him. He is a good fellow, and I am in favor of his reelection." 
The first board member eliminated the personal element and considered the wel- 
fare of the schools ; the other could not rise to this higher plane. 

One of the great tests of a superintendent's efficiency is his ability to select 
good teachers. If he will nominate any teacher because she is suggested by in- 
fluential friends, he thereby demonstrates that he is unfitted for his position. 
If he makes careful inquiry regarding each applicant from people who really 
know something of the applicant's ability as a teacher, and then makes his 
nominations irrespective of religion, politics, or residence, the board usually 
feels somewhat assured that every effort has been made to secure the best 
teacher for the position. 

Another test is whether the superintendent has the ability to inspire his 
teachers with high ideals and to help them solve classroom problems. No 
matter how carefully a superintendent selects teachers, most of them will 
need help. In a small city some will be just out of normal school, and though 



THE SUPERINTENDENT. 39 

they have been well trained they will need to be adjusted to real conditions, 
while others may have had experience in a country school without much super- 
vision. All these must be helped, and if many fail, provided due care has been 
exercised in their selection, it is evident that the superintendent has not been 
doing his duty. If many pupils of normal ability and well prepared for the 
grade fail under a teacher, suspicion is not wanting that the teaching has been 
poor; so if many teachers fail, suspicion points toward the superintendent. 
He should be asked to explain why the teachers are failing. 

The superintendents who do not visit classrooms with the thought of helping 
teachers by means of frank talks and constructive criticism are doing but 
little to help improve their teachers. A mere office superintendent can do little 
to improve his teachers. His principals may render much assistance, but in 
a small city the superintendent must himself make a first-hand diagnosis of 
the case. 

In a certain city the school machinery as outlined on paper is perfect. In 
practice many of tlTe purely administrative problems have been solved, but 
the superintendent knows little of what the teachers are doing and of their 
methods of instruction. On the whole, 'the teaching in that city is poor. The 
very object of the schools is defeated because the superintendent makes little 
effort to help his teachers, and many of them need mtich help. 

In another city, that pays its teachers considerably less, the teaching is 
much better. The superintendent in this city realizes that it is his duty to help 
the teachers by visits, teachers' meetings, and private conferences. He turns 
all the details of office work, such as accounting for supplies, over to a com- 
petent clerk and devotes most of his time to improving classroom instruction. 

Although superintendents in the past have not been judged to any great 
extent by the attitude they take toward a scientific study of education, school- 
board members are beginning to ask whether the superintendent knows what 
advancement teachers are making, whether he knows which teachers are suc- 
ceeding and which are not. In other words, school boards are beginning to 
ask superintendents to show, more definitely than they have been showing, 
what the results are and what the children have achieved. The old idea of 
judging the work of teachers by mere opinion is passing away. More definite 
measurements are used. The practical school-board member should not rest 
content until he knows that the superintendent is at least attempting to learn 
how to measure the efficiency of his schools. 

Does the superintendent have the power of leadership or does he shape his 
policies to suit the opinions of some few inffuential citizens or board members? 
This is a question school boards are beginning to ask. The superintendent 
can no longer be considered a mere figurehead. He must formulate policies, 
present them to the board, and, if necessary, fight for their adoption. No 
school board member should condemn a superintendent for making a strong 
appeal for certain policies ; rather he should admire him. Thisi does not mean 
that a superintendent who is always fighting for some reform is to be regarded 
as a successful superintendent. School boards are coming to realize that, as a 
rule, the superintendent who accomplishes the most, who places the schools on a 
sound foundation, is one who makes few reforms at a time, one who tests each 
step so that there can be no retreat, or, if there is a retreat, he utilizes it to 
secure a better point of attack. 

Only occasionally are conditions so bad when a new superintendent takes 
charge of a school system that radical reforms are necessary. Any radical 
reform upsets the whole school system and often results disastrously, while a 
steady hammering extending over a longer period of time accomplishes more. 



40 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

After a radical reform there is generally a reaction. Reaction is likely to fol- 
low hasty reforms, and reforms beyond the point that the public comprehends. 
One question many board members ask is whether the superintendent is a 
man of ideals. Does he see the big things or only the petty affairs? Has he 
vision? Is he planning big things for the school for next year and the next? 
Many school boards realize that a superintendent who can not or does not do 
this can never hope to advance the schools of his city beyond their present con- 
dition. 

QUALIFICATIONS. 

The qualifications of a superintendent have been touched upon in outlining 
some of his duties. The questions which board members of some of the progres- 
sive schools are asking when in search of a superintendent are : What is his 
education? What experience has he had (1) as teacher, (2) as sui>ervisor, 
(3) as an executive? Has he been successful? What is his personality? Does 
he take an interest in community life? Has he in his present position suc- 
ceeded in interesting the people in their schools? Is he a graduate of a school 
or college of education? Is he progressive? 

The following quotations from replies of presidents of boards of education 
in the smaller cities to the question, " What do you consider the essential 
qualifications of a city superintendent, or by what standard do you judge your 
superintendent," show what these school-board presidents consider the essen- 
tial qualifications of a city school superintendent: 

Albuquerque, N. Mex. — The first qualification of such a city superintendent is 
that he should be a business executive who has specialized in the business of 
education. 

His ability to teach all subjects and grades or any given subject or grade is 
of small importance, but his ability to choose and retain in his employ those 
who are able and willing to perform the particular work allotted to them and to 
carry the responsibility for the success of such work is of great importance. In 
the matter of teaching, he should be able to distribute the responsibility to 
suboixlinates, judging their work by results rather than by detail, and to coor- 
dinate their work to a common end. 

He must be able to look upon his school as a great business corporation, 
usually with a more valuable plant and more numerous stockholders than any 
other in his community, and to appreciate that he is the responsible head of 
that corporation. 

In common with every other business executive who has not employed an 
expert in that line, he must be thoroughly familiar with the system and ma- 
chinery of taxation, but for a different reason. While his plant is not subject 
to taxation, it is dependent upon it. That is the source of his plant revenue, and 
I should say that a business executive who does not gite the closest attention 
to the source of revenue upon which his plant depends is not properly represent- 
ing those to whom he is responsible. 

He must know how, when, where, and what to buy and not to buy. He must 
be able to eliminate waste, both of energy and of material. He must be eco- 
nominal, but not penurious ; thrifty, but not stingy. He must see that complete 
accounts are kept and be able to understand and interpret them and to know 
at all times the exact financial status of his plant. 

He must be a salesman. His product is education and his customers are the 
parents of his city. The success of his plant depends upon his satisfied cus- 
tomers, not that every customer must be satisfied at all hazards, but within the 
limit of the best interests of his institution. His stockholders, the taxpayers, 
must also be satisfied. They must see dividends in the shape of benefits to the 
community commensurate with their interests. 

The work of a city superintendent of schools naturally divides itself into two 
classes, that of superintendence of the educational work and that of business 
management. This work is too heavy in the average city of the size I have sug- 
gested for any one man to handle in all its details. Inasmuch as the larger 
number of his subordinates are specialists in educational work, the most of 



THE SUPERINTENDENT. 41 

his delegation of authority naturally will be in the first subdivision of his 
duties just mentioned. This will leave him more time for his work of business 
management. The difficulty usually is that the city superintendent has had no 
business training, but has come up from the ranks of the teaching profession, 
but according to my view we need not expect efficiency from our city superin- 
tendents until they are able to handle their plant from the standpoint of any 
other business man. 

Alhambra, Calif. — First. He should be a man enthused with the necessity and 
importance of etlucation. A man who is ever studying new problems along this 
line and ready to undertake such as look feasible, but not a dreamer. 

Second. An executive. A man with sufficient business knowledge to present 
the problems of his administration clearly, concisely, and forcibly to his board 
of education, and who can offer intelligent solutions of the problems that are 
presented. 

Third. A man familiar with the educational needs of our children, not neces- 
sarily a teacher himself. 

Fourth. An organizer. 

Fifth. A man possessed of magnetic personality. 

Sixth. A man of pleasing address, and a good public speaker. 

Seventh. A judge of human nature, capable of making an intelligent selec- 
tion of teachers best fitted to teach their respective subjects. 

Attleboro, Mass. — First. Ability to pick out the best qualified men and women 
for positions on our teaching force. 

Second. Executive ability to administer the public-school system on a business 
basis. 

We make our superintendent responsible for maintaining a high standard in 
the teaching force. We expect that he will place the administration of the 
business affairs on as efficient a basis as w^ould be expected in a business of 
the same size. 

We demand that politics should be kept out of the school department, and 
that our superintendent shall be open to new ideas and shall constantly strive 
to keep abreast of the forward movement of education in this country. 

Augusta, Me. — One who is cautious and painstaking in the numerous small 
details of his position. The great matters care for themselves. 

Boise, Idaho. — (1) He should have executive ability of at least fair, if not a 
high, order ; the larger the school system, the greater the necessity for a strong 
executive who fully appreciates the necessity for the elimination of waste, not 
only in education but in the purchasing and handling of supplies, the erection 
of buildings, and in the management and overhead. Training schools for teach- 
ers and educators have not, in my opinion, dwelt sufficiently on this in the past, 
and the result is that, while superintendents are pressing their right to manage 
the business end of school administration and to practically direct all expendi- 
tures, many of them are not so equipped for such work as to inspire confidence 
in the school boards in their ability to economically and efficiently handle the 
business. I think school boards will generally welcome the time when expe- 
rienced and well-trained educators can efficiently manage the business affairs 
of the district. 

(2) He should have qualities of leadership in educational matters, so as to 
hold the confidence of his teachers and coworkers, as well as the confidence of 
the members of the board, who look to him for right guidance in the adoption 
of educational policies. 

(3) He should be able to take a leading part in community affairs, somewhat 
commensurate with that taken by executives or managers of private concerns 
of somewhat similar magnitude in the community. 

(4) His training and experience in educational matters should be at least 
sufficient to enable him to discriminate between the essential and nonessential 
in public-school education and to give the public, whenever required, the funda- 
mental reasons supporting his educational policies. In other words, he should 
have a clear vision of the preparation and training the young people of to-day 
should have to meet the requirements of industry and society when the boys 
and girls now in the schools will have to take positions of leadership, responsi- 
bility, and trust. 

Cheyenne, ^yyo. — Assuming that he has had the proper training in college, 
he should be broad-minded and firm ; he should not let religious or political 
influences interfere with the administration of the schools ; he should have a 
business training (this is necessary where the superintendent looks after the 



42 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

expense of running the schools) ; he should outline his policies at the be?:inning 
of the term and see to it that they are strictly adhered to, and visit the schools 
often enough to know that his instructions are being carried out; he should be 
strict in complying \Yith the laws laid down by the board of health, 

Columdus, Ga. — A superintendent of schools in a small city has a greater 
variety of duties to perform than has a superintendent of a large system, where 
the work is necessarily divided among several heads of departments. A super- 
intendent of schools, therefore, in a city with a population of less than 50,000 
should be a well-rounded man. 

To manage successfully such a system of schools a superintendent should be 
a good business man, in order that school appropriations should purchase the 
greatest possible amount of service and materials, which will largely work to 
allay the charge of extravagance and wastefulness. He should also be familiar 
with the best thought on the construction of school buildings and of equipment. 

Above all other requirements, a superintendent of schools should be a well- 
informed person on all teaching methods and practices ; otherwise he w^ould not 
be able to intelligently criticize methods which are employed or should be em- 
ployed or to judge the fitness of teachers under him. The purpose of all schools 
is instruction, and a superintendent should not fail in this regard. 

The superintendent of any system of schools should be a leader in a way 
that he may be able to represent the schools on any and all occasions. Natu- 
rally, the schools must and should have the support of the public, and this can 
not always be secured unless the public understands the policies and the aspira- 
tions of the school administration. The superintendent should be an exponent 
of this administration, as well as the board which elects them, if not even more 
so. In other words, a superintendent should not only be a well-rounded, educa- 
tional man, but he should be a good executive and an administrative man. 

Grand Forks, N. Dak. — We consider the first and most essential qualification 
of a superintendent is that he be a good organizer, who can place the teachers 
in the positions w'here they can do the most efficient work. Next in importance 
would be that of a practical knowledge of efficient instruction. A superintend- 
ent must be a good judge of character and be able to check up the work done 
by the teachers under him. He must also be thoroughly posted on the philos- 
ophy of education to know what are the essential subjects to be emphasized in 
the school work. 

Hutchinson, Kans. — First. A superintendent must be of very high character, 
and his morals must be unquestioned. 

Second. He should have executive ability, so as to hold his teachers together 
in a compact organization and have their respect at all times as such executive. 

Third. He should be able to judge whether or not the various teachers under 
him are rendering eflicient service to the board of education employing them. 
This information may be obtained by departmental superintendents or directly 
by the superintendent himself, but this information should be at all times with 
the superintendent. 

Fourth. He must have a personal bearing that will command the personal 
respect of the pupils with whom he comes in contact and of the parents of 
the pupils. 

Fifth. He should be up to date in his educational methods and should be as 
efficient as any man standing at the head of a great corporation. 

Mansfield, Ohio. — 1. He should have an academic degree. 

2. He should have a higher degree, as for example, the M. A. degree, secured 
in a reputable college of education. 

3. He should be a man of successful teaching experience. 

4. He should be a man of unquestionable character. 

5. He should be highly professional, as evidenced by his ability to arouse a 
professional spirit among his teachers and his attendance upon the different 
teachers' associations. 

6. He should be a man with a well-poised disposition. 

7. He should manifest an interest in the various conuuunity enterprises. 

8. He must have courage to execute with the board and his teaching faculty 
his major ideas. 

9. He must be strictly honest and upright. 

10. He must be free from any bad habits. 

We measure the work of our superintendent by the following: 

1. His constructive cooperation with the board of education. 

2. His ability to keep the curricula up to date. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT. 48 

3. His ability to organize his teaching forces upon the most economic and 
efficient basis. 

4. Tlie exercise of that type of leadership which causes the teaching per- 
sonnel to do team work in the most willing and harmonious fashion. 

5. His treatment of the discordant elements in the community so as to produce 
the least possible friction. 

6. The exercise of such social control in the community as wins the high 
respect and regard of our best-thinking people. 

Otean, N. Y. — The qualifications for an efficient superintendent should be execu- 
tive ability, education, and capability of imparting instruction in teaching. 

Selma, Ala. — First. He should have a good education, should be a graduate of 
a very good college. 

Second. He should have had several years' experience as a teacher. 

Third. He should be a man of good conmion sense and of ta<:t, so as to be 
able to properly handle daily school problems with pupils and patrons. 

Fourth. He should know how to control himself and thus be able to receive 
and answer criticism. 

Fifth. He should be aggressive and keep abreast with what is new and essen- 
tial, and not be satisfied with what has been accomplished in the system ; and 
yet not given to extravagance where the income is limited, as it is with us. 

Sixth. He should take an interest in the public affairs of the community and 
be ready to further what is for the good of the same. 

Tuscan, Ariz. — A superintendent of schools should be mentally alert, educa- 
tionally and morally fit. His school should be kept up to standard as to en- 
trance qualifications and credits required for graduation. Cramming of facts 
should not be the sole result, but pupils should be given proper outlook on life 
and should be taught how to think straight. Certain attention must be paid 
to vocational work, business principles, and physical culture. 

A superintendent must be able to meet and hold the respect of the public. He 
must have tact and a certain amount of diplomacy. If possible, his relation 
with his board should be one of cooperation rather than servile obedience. 

TENURE. 

A little more than one-half, or 263 of 510 superintendents reporting, are 
elected annually; 28 are elected for a term of two years; 81 for three years; 
88 for four years ; 18 for five years ; 1 for six years ; 1 for eight years ; and 
31 are given indefinite or permanent tenure. 

It is difficult to understand why more State school laws have not been so 
amended as to require boards of education to elect superintendents for a term 
of at least three years. It is evident that no superintendent, however keen 
his insight into school conditions and however good an administrator he may 
be, can do much constructive work the first year of his term. In fact, the effi- 
cient administrator usually does not attempt to do much more than to make 
a careful study of the situation. After he has reached his conclusions, it takes 
several more years to work out his plans. To ask a new superintendent to 
show results in a year is asking the impossible. He may stir up the dust to 
keep down criticism for inaction, but he can not institute many lasting re- 
forms in the space of 12 months. A year's time proves little either for or 
against a superintendent. It is evident that a city that changes superintend- 
ents frequently does not have any definite educational policy. 

Making frequent changes in superintendents is one of the evils in small 
cities. In 1920, of 2,197 superintendents in cities of less than 30,000 popula- 
tion, only 1,131 were in the same cities as in 1917, making a clmnge of 48.5 per 
cent. Of course, all these changes were not caused by boards of education 
refusing to reelect their superintendents. Many secured better positions in 
other cities, and again others dropped out for more remunerative or more con- 
genial employment in other fields. 



44 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

THE TEACHER. 

SALARY SCHEDULE AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS. 

The salary schedule for teachers in 225 cities of 520 reporting is based upon 
preparation, experience, and merit, while in 295 of the cities length of serv- 
ice is the chief factor in determining compensation ; that is, a teacher begins 
at a minimum salary, which automatically increases a certain amount, as $50 
a year, until the fifth or sixth year. The salary reached at the end of the 
period then becomes the amount the teacher receives annually for the remain- 
der of her employment. Though this is the general method of promoting teach- 
ers, it has its serious defects. 

In the first place, some teachers are worth very much more to a department 
than are others, and this worth is not dependent upon length of service. In 
the second place, such a plan offers no inducement for special industry or ef- 
fort for self-improvement, since the teacher who does just enough to escape 
dismissal gets quite as much as the teacher whose heart is in her work. Then, 
there is a strong tendency among teachers, as among all workers on salary, 
when middle age is reached and the maximum salary is attained, to stop grow- 
ing. A salary schedule having a maximum which is reached without any 
consideration of merit or additional preparation operates principally to inhibit 
growth. 

However, with an adequate salary, with high standards of professional quali- 
fications for entering teachers, and with good supervision, some cities have been 
able to develop a large part of the teaching corps into good teachers. It ought, 
however, to be possible to devise a plan which will permit of an increase in salary, 
beyond a maximum representing a large wage, for those teachers who show evi- 
dence of increasing scholarship and of professional preparation and who have 
demonstrated their efficiency. 

It is doubtful whether many of the plans for recognizing efficiency in a salary 
schedule have been very successful. The teacher who is graded low compares 
herself with some other teacher more fortunate, and then concludes that she has 
been unfairly and unjustly marked. In not a few places the dissension in the 
corps in consequence of alleged unfairness in evaluating the efliciency of teachers 
has outweighed the benefits. Indeed, it is the fear of engendering such discord 
that has deterred many school boards from adopting a plan to recognize indi- 
vidual merit in terms of the salary schedule. 

To avoid as far as possible this danger of unfairness and to provide a check 
against error of judgment, most superintendents making merit one of the factors 
in the promotion of teachers use a form for scoring the efficiency of each teacher. 
Many of the forms require that the teacher shall be graded by two or more per- 
sons and that the teacher be informed of her ranking before her salary for the 
year is fixed. The following discussion and proposed plan of teacher rating may 
be suggestive : ' 

/. THE AIMS OF A TEACHER-RATING PLAN. 

The chief purpose of a teacher-rating plan are: 

(a) To stress emphasis in teaching on the main objectives of the course of 
study. 

(6) To evaluate the results of teaching in terms of these aims, 
(c) To improve the quality of the teaching. 

* Submitted to Bureau of Education, but author's name not attached. 



THE TEACHER. 45 

//. NECESSARY CONDITION UNDERLYING A TEACHER-RATING PLAN. 
A teacher-rating plan presupposes (a) a program of work which indicates 
clearly the values for which the teacher shall be rated; (b) a record of the 
intelligence (mental horsepower) of the members of the class; (c) an inventory 
of values attained by the class at the beginning as well as at the end of the term 
for which the teacher shall be rated. 

///. PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING A TEACHER-RATING PLAN. 

(a) The worth of any producer is in direct ratio to the worth of his product. 
The scientific way to determine the worth of the producer is to evaluate the 
product. 

(&) The values rated in measuring teaching efficiency must coincide with the 
values emphasized in the course of study. 

(c) These values may be stated in terms of knowledge, interests, ideals, habits, 
powers. 

(d) Only those qualities ot the product shall be rated which are plainly trace- 
able. 

(e) The beginning of any rating of a teacher shall lie in the teacher's own 
estimate of her work, stated In terms of knowledge, interests, ideals, habits, 
powers. 

if) Evidence of the worth of a teacher is of two kinds: Primarily, direct evi- 
dence based on a direct analysis of the product ; secondarily, indirect evidence, 
based on an evaluation of such personal qualities, habits, scholastic attainments, 
methods, and effort^ of the teacher as may safely be assumed to be reflected in 
the quality of the work. Direct evidence will always be considered the more 
valuable. 

(g) The worth of a teacher to the system as j. whole is in proportion mainly 
to her institutional spirit. 

IV. THE EVIDENCE. 

A. Direct evidence. — 1. Direct evidence in general is the record of the pupils 
as officially recorded. The school that accepts a teacher's ratings of her pupils 
for other school purposes must accept her ratings of her pupils as evidence of 
her skill as a teacher. It is not conclusive evidence but it becomes a factor. 
The growing practice of applying the principle of the objective tests will im- 
prove the reliability of these ratings. Low pupils' ratings in themselves do 
not condemn a teacher. But they become a factor; possibly the factor will 
be reduced to zero when general intelligence tests and other reasonable factors 
are taken into consideration. 

2. The best direct evidence of knowledge, as commonly understood, is the 
objective test. Additional evidence of knowledge, which will grow In modern 
schools, is the display of skill which necessarily presupposes certain knowledge. 

3. Direct evidence of interest aroused by any teacher is always the display 
of enthusiasm on the part of the pupils in their work. This is manifest in the 
classroom " atmosphere," in special extra classroom activities, making of ap- 
paratus, reading of books, group activities growing out of teachers* efforts, 
science, mathematics, literary clubs, etc. 

4. Direct evidence of the creation of ideals is evasive. The existence of an 
ideal is manifest in conduct. Good-student government is evidence of the 
presence of sound civic ideals. The best tardy record in school may indicate 
the influence of an ideal. 

5. Direct evidence of habits formed can be traced, although at times one 
teacher may benefit by the work of another teacher. This is true particularly 
of those common habits of conduct which are expected of all pupils. 

6. Direct evidence of power can readily be traced. Increased ability to write, 
to draw, to read, to spell, to perform mathematical operations, to take short- 
hand dictation, to transcribe notes, and other manifestations of power can be 
scientifically measured. A definite rating in power will stimulate wonderfully 
teaching activity to develop power and to find scientific ways to nusasure power. 

B. Indirect evidence. — The following are lines of indirect evidence of the suc- 
cess of the teacher in attaining desired values : Plan book ; good judgment in 
rating relative values ; ratio between pupil and teacher activity in the class- 

90263°— 22 4 



46 



ADMIKISTEATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 



room; character of questions asked by teacher; method based on sound ped- 
agogy ; treating vital problems ; skillful lesson assignment ; teaching pupils 
how to study ; recognition of individual characteristics of pupils ; proper use 
of drill (teaching to fixation point) ; enthusiasm of teacher (how manifest, 
possibly by leaving the building always as soon as the bell rings) ; number 
of pupils voluntarily choosing the teacher's subject; definite plans to create 
certain ideals in literature and civics and history ; evidence of initiative on the 
part of the pupils, etc. 

C. Evidence of the institutional worth of a teacher. — Evidence of the insti- 
tutional worth of a teacher is called out by the following questions : 

(1) Is she loyal to the system? This includes her relations to all her co- 
workers, teachers, supervisors, principals, and superintendent. This quality 
should be considered vital and should not be rated. The ethical standards of 
the profession of teaching should compel a disloyal teacher to resign. 

(2) Has she institutional interests*? Visits homes, knows the child's rela- 
tion to his other school subjects ; takes part in tRe social life of the school — 
parties, games, etc. 

(3) Does she feel an institutional responsibility? Care of school property, 
desks, books, supplies, etc. ; does she further the general morale of the school, 
oversight of halls, helpful in student government, helpful in furthering school 
projects. 

(4) Does she have administrative sense? Never tardy; office reports accu- 
rate and sent in promptly ; complies promptly with general office requests ; 
leaves her keys in the office at end of day ; school register in good condition ; 
class rolls available in case of her absence; calls school promptly if not able 
to come to school. 

V. FACTORS AFFECTING THE SUCCESS OF A TEACHER, 



A. Personal characteristics. 



Factors. 
Pleasing. 
Courteous, 
Cheerful. 
Enthusiastic. 



5. Sympathetic. 

6. Tactful but firm. 

7. Self-controlled. 

8. Impartial toward 

herself as well 
as toward her 
pupils. 

9. Systematic. 

10. Ambitious profes- 

sionally. 

11. Teachable. 

12. Neat. 

13. Voice clear, pleas- 

ing. 

B. Classroom, 

1. Order. 

2. Air. 

3. Light. 

4. Heat. 

5. Blackboards. 

6. Pupils properly 

seated. 

7. Correct posture of 

teacher and pupil. 



Why valuable. 

{a) Makes teacher's efforts more effective and pu- 
pils' response more generous. 

(&) Cultivates these qualities in pupils. In the 
long run these qualities in the teacher are conditioned 
on health. 

Close personal relation between teacher and pupil 
impossible without it. 



Makes discipline easy. 



Necessary for proper utilization of time and energy. 

Constructive program impossible without it. 
A necessary condition of growth. 

Teachers should not remain *' the same yesterday, to- 
day, and forever." 
Like begets like. The community does not pay a 

teacher to develop slovenly habits in its children. 
Adds emphasis to what teacher says. 



Teacher must be in control if teacher's plans shall 
carry. 

Proper physical conditions contribute much to suc- 
cess, but teacher is responsible only for what is under 
her control. 

Tidy blackboards help to form habits of tidiness. 

Proper grouping increases efficiency of teacher's 
efforts. 

{a) Correct posture habits promote good health. 

(&) Pupils imitate teacher. 



THE TEACHER. 



47 



C. Recitation. 

1. The teacher. 

(a) Language 
clear, c o r- 
rect. 

(&) Professional 
equipment. 

(c) Plans her 

work. 

(d) Utilize time 

well. 

(e) Resourceful. 

(f) Questions 

well. 

(g) Her influence 

touches all. 

(h) Assigns les- 
sons so as 
to make pu- 
pils " want 
to get at it," 
and shows 
how to do 
it. 

(i) Varies meth- 
od accord- 
ing to aim 
( k n o w 1- 
edge, inter- 
ests, ideals, 
h a bits, 
powers). 

(j) Measures the 
accomplish- 
ments f 
her pupils. 

2. Subject matter. 

(a) Obsolete or 
adapted to 
modern so- 
cial needs. 



No excuse for deficiency here. 



Knowledge of subject matter, of psychology of learn- 
ing, of methods of teaching, of measuring results, all 
these condition the success of the teacher. 

All worth while work requires preparation. Best 
to record in plan book. 

Waste of time is waste of opportunity. 

I This quality " keeps things moving." 
! (a) Good questions stimulate thought. 

(&) Rapid-fire questions drill fundamentals. 

A democratic school rests on equal rights. 

Basis of pupils' growth is intelligent pupil activity. 



A good beginning is half the battle. 



Recognition of progress is great incentive to 
further progress. 



Work is handicapped to the extent that teacher 
does not choose subject matter wisely and uses the 
best illustrative material the school furnishes. 



VI. FORM ON WHICH TO ENTER INVENTORY OF VALUES. 
Name of teacher. 
Subject. 
Class. 
Time from to 

A. Program of work. 

B. Special features of term's ivork in addition. 

C. Evidence of talues. 

(1) Knowledge: 

Remarks Estimate 

(2) Interests: 

Remarks Estimate 

(3) Ideals: 

Remarks Estimate 

(4) Habits: 

Remarks Estimate 

(5) Powers: 

Remarks Estimate 



48 ADMINISTFvATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

The following scheme of rating teachers is in use in a number of schools: 



Qualities rated. 


Very 
poor. 


Poor. 


Medium. 


Good. 


Excel- 
lent. 


I. Personal equipment: 

General appearance 












Health 












Voice 


::::::::::::::::::: 








Quickness of perception 












Initiative . . 












Adaptability, resourcefulness 
























Industry 












. Enthusiasm and optimism 












Integrity and sincerity 













Self-control 












Promptness 













Tact 












Sense of justice 










II. Social and professional equipment: 

Grasp of subject matter 












Understanding of children 












Interest in school work 




1 






Interest in parents 




: 1 .. . . 






Interest in lives of pupils 










Cooperation and loyalty 










Professional interest and gro'n-th 




i 






Daily preparation 












Use of English. . . 












Standing m community 












III. School management: 

Care of light, heat, and ventilation 












Neatness of room 




1 






Discipline 












IV. Technique of teactiing: 

Clearness of aim 












Skill m habit formation 












Skill in stimulating thought 












Skill in teaching how to study 












Skill in questioning 













Skill in care and assignment 













Skill in arousing interest! 












Skill in getting pupils to work 













Ability to follow directions 













V. Results: 

Habit of attention of class 












Habit of willing obedience 




1 






Growth of pupils in knowledge 










Moral influence 










Growth in habits of cleanliness 




1 






Growth in habits of industry 














1 




• 



Most of the rating schemes attempt to formulate a basis for judging certain 
characteristics of the teacher. A teacher may have many of the characteristics 
called for on the score card, as health, good voice, self-control, honesty, etc., 
and not be a good teacher. There should therefore be some attempt to rate 
teachers on results. The following is suggested : " 

I. Pupil achievement. — Minimum 50, maximum 75. 

1. Objectively measured (for each subject). 

a. Knowledge. 

b. Skill. 

2. Other achievements. 

a. Habits of study. 

b. Attitude toward— 

Work. 

School government. 
School organization. 
Moral questions. 
Life preparation. 
II. Merit in mechanics of worker. — Minimum 20, maximum 40. 

1. Organization and administration of — 

a. Tools. 

b. Raw material. 

2. Skill in technical method. 

"Raymond Kent. Jour. Educ. Research, Dec, 1920, p. 806, 



THE TEACHER. 



49 



III. Met-it as a social worker. — Minimum 20, maximum 40. 

1. Cooperation with organization. 

2. Professional habits. 

3. Success in dealing with parents. 

4. Sympathetic interpretation of pupils. 

5. Discharge of obligations as community rhember. 

In the administration of any such plan for rating, the following would need 
to be taken for granted : 

1. The knowledge of the potential ability of pupils to achieve, measured in 
terms of their intelligence. 

2. A statement of pupil achievement at the beginning of any period over 
which the efficiency of a teacher's work is to be judged. 

3. The working out of intelligible standards in the items to be listed under 
" other achievements." 

4. Specific statement by the supervisor or in the course of study, or both, of 
the tools and methods to be used and how to use them. 

Statement of intelligible and reasonable standards under which several factors 
combine to make a teacher successful as far as she is a worker in a social 
institution. 

In a school system having a plan of detailed marking, a simpler form was 
introduced with marked success. A committee composed of the superintendent 
of schools, the general supervisor of instruction, and the principal of the build- 
ing discuss the work of each teacher. The principal of the school first makes 
a written report to the superintendent, in which is set forth the principal's 
estimate of the teachers upon the following points: Professional growth, effi- 
ciency, management, and instruction ; general merit — English, attitude, coopera- 
tion, thought stimulation, insight Into child welfare ; results — general, specific ; 
personality — special strength, special lack, special achievement; comparison. 
After the principal's report has been submitted to the superintendent, he and 
the supervisor of Instruction go over it with the principal and classify tlie 
teachers as A, B, and C. Class A receives the largest salary increase, class B 
somewhat less, and class C no Increase whatever. If a teacher can not get out 
of this class after a year or two, she is dropped from the teaching staff. 

The following plan is suggested as a possible solution of the salary schedule 
problem, based upon that suggested by Cubberley : " 

Suggested salary schedule. 





Time 
of ap- 
point- 
ment 

(years). 


Salary schedule for each group. 


Yearly 

in- 
crease. 


Year in 


Group of teachers. 


Elementary. 


High. 


which 
group 
maxi 




Mini- 
mum. 


Maxi- 
mum. 


Mini- 
mum. 


Maxi- 
"mum. 


mum IS 
reached. 


A. One-year teachers elected each j'ear (pro- 

bationary for 3 years). 

B. Three-year period 


1 

3 

5 


$1,200 

1,425 
1,650 
2,000 


$1,350 

1,575 
1,925 
2, 525 


$1,600 

1,825 
2,050 
2,275 


$1,750 

1,975 
2,3.50 
2,950 


$75 

75 
75 
75 


Third. 
Third. 


C. Five-year period. . . 


Fifth 


D , Permanent 


Eighth. 









A schedule such as this would have teachers who enter group A upon a pro- 
bationary status subject to reelection for each year for three years. At the 
end of this period or before those who are unsatisfactory should be dropped 
from the corps and those who are rated successful should be promoted to 



" Cubberley, Public School Administration, p. 201. 



50 ADMINISTKATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

group B, where they will automatically advance by increments for a period of 
three years. When the teacher has reached the maximum of group B the 
board may then promote her to group C if she has met the requirements 
demanded for promotion or keep her at the maximum salary of group B until 
she does qualify for group C. In group O the teacher is advanced by $75 
increments for a period of five years. When the maximum of group C is 
reached the teacher who has won promotion by her success in the classroom 
and by her efforts at self-improvement may be promoted to group D, where 
she will remain until she retires, except for specified cause. If in the judgment 
of school officials a teacher has not merited promotion, she can be retained 
at the maximum salary of the group she is in. The group arrangement permits 
the school board to set up certain standards to be attained at the end of the 
periods. 

This suggested schedule is based upon the supposition that those teachers 
entering group A have just graduated from normal school and are beginning to 
teach their first term. If inexperienced teachers are not employed, teachers 
who have taught elsewhere may be employed and placed in the group to which 
their experience and preparation entitle them. 

Promotion from group to group beyond the group B teachers should be 
granted only to those who have shown special merit and have given evidence 
of valu^le professional study. To satisfy the latter condition the board might 
require the candidate for promotion to spend a year in study at some recog- 
nized college or university, or a year in teaching in some good school system 
in another part of the country, or perhaps a year of study and travel might 
be combined. 

This suggested schedule would correct a weakness in many salary schedules 
by providing a wide range between the minimum and the maximum and a 
means for recognizing merit. A salary schedule with a range of only $200 or 
$300 between the minimum and the maximum does not tend to make teachers 
more efficient. By adopting a salary schedule similar to the one just outlined, 
with a wide range between the minimum and the maximum, an adjustment can 
be worked out between a teacher's proper desire for security of tenure and the 
board's proper desire to eliminate the teachers who do not continue to grow in 
eflaciency. At the same time the teacher knows that efforts at self-improvement 
will find tangible reward in terms of salary increase. 

SALARY FOR SICK LEAVE. 

Of 516 cities reporting, 287 grant teachers sick leave for a definite period on 
full pay, and 156 on part full pay, or full pay less substitute's salary, or a spe- 
cific amount, as $2 a day. Leave not exceeding 5 days is granted in 225 
cities ; 5 to 10 days in 150 ; 11 to 20 days in 30 ; 20 to 30 days in 20 ; more than 
30 days in 18 cities. It seems only just and fair that teachers be granted 
a certain numbers of days of sick leave on full pay ; possibly two weeks would 
be a fair allotment. For sickness exceeding a few days at a time, a physician's 
certificate should be required. If the leave is only for a day or two, a certified 
statement by the teacher should be sufficient. 

TENURE. 

In most of the smaller cities it is customary to elect teachers each year. In 
121 of the 528 cities reporting, the teachers are elected on probationary terms 
of one, two, or three years. In 109 of these 121 they are placed oh permanent 
tenure after serving the probationary term. In all other cities the teachers are 



THE TEACHER. 51 

elected annually, no matter how long they may have been In service. In 
the 528 cities reporting, 975 teachers were not reelected last year, or 3.25 per 
cent of the 30,000 teachers employed in these cities. Of the 975 teachers not 
reelected, 423, or 80.1 per cent, were advised not to make application. 

It is very doubtful whether teachers should be given permanent tenure after 
a probationary period of one or two years. A better plan is to elect each year 
for three years, so that a teacher who has been unsuccessful may be dropped 
at the end of any school year. If at the end of three years a teacher has 
proved herself efficient she should be elected for a three-year period. Then at 
the close of the period she might, if successful, be given indefinite tenure. 
Under this plan a teacher would serve year after year without any formal 
action either on her part or that of the school board, and until such time as she 
resigns or as the board, for cause and upon the recommendation of the superin- 
tendent, terminates the contract. 

Dr. E. P. Cubberley points out that indefinite tenure is preferable to perma- 
nent tenure, saying : " 

This middle ground is equally just to both sides. The usual condition is not 
just to teachers who have spent years in making preparation for a life work 
of service, and the life-tenure plan is not just to taxpayers or to the children 
in the schools. The latter certainly have rights as well as the teachers. The 
middle ground gives practically life tenure to every worthy teacher and school 
officer, but merely reserves to the board of control for the schools, acting on 
the recommendation of their chief executive officer and only after helpful 
advice has failed to bring the desired Improvement, the right quietly to remove 
from the schools those who should not be there. To say that a school board 
has such power by trial, under the life-tenure laws, is to cherish a delusion. 
The machinery of such action is, of course, provided, but the difficulties in the 
way are such that it can seldom, if ever, be carried to a successful conclusion. 
In addition, the notoriety and the bitterness engendered by such public trials 
is demoralizing to the schools, and should be avoided by both sides in the 
interests of the children and the good name of the schools. 

ELIMINATING THE INEFFICIENT TEACHER. 

Some plan should be employed by the superintendent and the board for elimi- 
nating the teacher whose work has not measured up to proper standards of 
efficiency and who has not given evidence of professional growth. It is not 
possible to devise preliminary tests of efficiency which will prevent some teacher 
from getting into a school system who ought not to be there. However careful 
a superintendent and a board may be in appointing teachers, there will always 
be found some who fail to do creditable work. Every superintendent should 
have an efficient plan for trying out all who enter and for eliminating those 
from the schools who for one reason or another are not successful. Such a 
plan, however, must avoid making any seeming injustice to the teacher, and it 
must not be operated in any arbitrary or unsympathetic manner. The follow- 
ing plan may be suggested : At the close of each term the principals and super- 
visors should sit down with the superintendent and discuss the work of each 
teacher, grading each as excellent, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory, or some such 
rating. Those teachers who have taught only one year and who are ranked as 
unsatisfactory should as a rule be given another trial. This may be done by 
transferring them to other schools or other situations, and even perhaps to other 
grades than the ones to which the teachers were assigned. Such transfers 
should, however, be made only after each teacher has been told very frankly 
by the principal and superintendent what the criticism is. The teacher is 

"Cubberley, E. P. Pub. Sch. Adralnistratiou, pp. 217-218. 



52 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

thereby given another chance under new conditions. Some teachers might 
prefer to conquer in their present situation. Once the writer suggested to a 
young teaclier that she change to another building, under another principal. 
She replied that she would prove that she could make good in her present po- 
sition if given another trial, and that if she CGuld not she would resign. She 
succeeded, but not all teachers are made of the same plucky material. 

If the teacher who has been transferred fails again, there is as a rule but 
one course of action, and that is to tell her frankly that she will not be re- 
elected. She should, however, be informed several weeks before the close of 
the school term. 

By some such plan as tJiis the danger of snap judgment is avoided, the 
teachers are given every chance to make good, and the children are protected 
against the retention of teachers who have undertaken the calling and who 
should be in some other profession or at some trade. When teachers know that 
snap judgment has not been taken, and that every opportunity has been offered 
so tliat they could demonstrate their ability- as teachers, very few will hesitate 
to quit the profession or else to quit the particular school system. The public, 
too, will have nothing much to say if it knows that the teacher has been given 
every opportunity to prove her worth and that she has failed to do so. The 
great difficulty in dismissing teachers Is that tJie public sympathizes with the 
teacher, instead of thinking of the child's welfare. 

A committee of the National Education Association, appointed to make a 
study of teachers' tenure, makes the following recommendations regarding the 
removal of teachers : 

During the probationary period there is little question but that the remov- 
ing power of the board should be strongly preserved. In order that the teach- 
ing staff itself may be protected from the danger of weak and incompetent 
teachers on permanent tenure it is necessary that high standards of entrance 
requirements be required. It should not only be the duty of the superintendent 
and supervisors to study the attitudes and abilities of the probationary teachers 
with great care and exactitude, but the teachers already on tenure should in- 
dorse an^ encourage the continued maintenance of those professional requi- 
sites which protect them from being weakened through the accumulation of an 
incompetent and undesirable element which brings discredit to the profession 
and which has interfered with the progress of protective measures for the 
benefit of a large majority of successful teachers already in the service. 

The board of education, therefore, should have the right, upon recommenda- 
tion of the superintendent, to drop any probationary teacher at the end of 
the school year after a reasonable notice. The notice should not be less than 
30 days. The Portland (Oreg.) law provides that a probationary teacher shall 
not be dismissed simply on account of friction between her and the principal 
without giving such teacher a fair opportunity with another principal. The 
teacher might be dropped at any time after a reasonable notice, a notice of not 
less than 60 days. A written statement signed by the superintendent should 
be given the teacher, stating the reasons for her dismissal. If the deficiency 
be due to a lack of skill in classroom management, removal should not be 
made until the teacher has been warned and an opportunity given to correct 
the same. 

After the probationary period teachers should be removed only for cause. 
The causes enumerated include one or more of the following : Inefficiency, neg- 
lect of duty, professional stagnation, indifference and lack of growth, lack of 
cooperation, disloyalty, immorality, unprofessional conduct, insubordination, 
ill health and physical disability, or any other reason that would annul a 
teacher's certificate. The New York law specifies that the teacher shall hold 
her position " during good behavior and efficient and competent service." The 
proposed Ohio law gave neglect of duty, insubordination, conduct unbecoming a 
teacher, and immoral or criminal conduct as causes for removal. The Paw- 
tucket (R. I.) regulations specify only misconduct or incapacity. The Massa- 
chusetts law lists no specific reason. 

Teachers may be dismissed at any time for the causes enumerated above. 
In all cases written notices of charges are necessary, and the teaclier is given 



THE TEACHER. 53 

an opportunity of a hearing to refute tlie cliarges. Pending the hearing the 
teacher may be suspended, and this suspension is without pay if the charge is 
sustained. Usually the board of education has the final decision in these 
matters. New York, New Jersey, and California, however, provide for an 
appeal to the State superintendent or other authority. Portland, Oreg., pro- 
vides for appeal by the unique method of a trial board of three appointed 
by the presiding judge of the circuit court. In all cases where the decision to 
remove is supported by less than five of the seven members of the board of 
education an appeal may be taken by the teacher to the commission. The de- 
cision of this special commission is final and conclusive. If five of the mem- 
bers of the board vote for removal, no appeal from this decision can be made. 
A majority of the board can remove. 

The questionnaire sent to affiliated units of the National Educational Associa- 
tion indicates that the majority of the teaching organization believe that the hear- 
ing should be held before the board of education. Quite a number favor the first 
hearing before the superintendent and supervisory officials. This group usually 
believes in an appeal to the local board of education. Those favoring the initial 
trial before the board or superintendent and board would provide for an ap- 
peal to the State superintendent of education for his department. A number 
of suggestions were made that the trial be held before a joint committee con- 
sisting of representatives of the board, the teaching body, and citizens. Another 
recommendation that a committee of three be substituted consisting of one repre- 
senting the board or superintendent, another the teacher, and a third to be 
selected by these two. 

Since the board of education is the agency which employs the teacher, it 
would seem that they should also be the removing agency. The right to employ 
implies the right to dismiss. The privilege of reviewing the action of the 
board in dismissing a teacher is a fundamental principle of American demo- 
cratic justice and a reasonable protection that should be provided. Since the 
majority of dismissals are based on technical questions, such as neglect of 
duty, incompetency, inefficiency, conduct unbecoming a teacher, and the like, 
it seems that the final body of appeal should be in educational work and yet 
disinterested. Dr. Kandel, of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement 
of Teachers, states that " the best practice to-day provides for an appeal to 
the State superintendent of public instruction." 

The question of whether the hearings should be public or private is a de 
batable one, and the committee would request an opportunity to give this more 
study. The general practice is to have the hearings private, although there 
seems to be developing a strong tendency to make the matter of privacy 
optional with the teachers. There are undoubtedly occasions when the nature 
of the accusations might demand a private hearing in order to protect the 
teachers, the school system, and the children of the community themselves. 
■ On the other hand, publicity serves as a competent check upon hasty and 
ill-advised action. It may prove a restraint upon judicious and justifiable 
dismissals, however, and consequently may work to the detriment of the 
school organization. 

It is a striking fact that the majority of those answering the questionnaire 
sent to the affiliated organizations of the National Education Association 
indicated a preference for private hearings. Quite a group, it will be noted, 
also felt that this privilege should be left to the discretion of the teacher 
accused, and the hearings be public or private as she requests. It seems that 
the accusing body should have some right of determination in this matter also, 
since the advisability of presenting evidence might hinge on the kind of 
hearing granted. If the first hearing were private and the right of appeal 
allowed, which would be public or private as the teacher requested, perhaps 
all rights would be safeguarded. 

PREPARATION OF TEACHERS. 

Of the 528 cities reporting, 320 require two years of normal-school work 
in addition to four years of high-school work for teachers in the elementary 
grades. 

Of the 528 cities reporting in regard to the preparation required for high- 
schoel positions, 444 require college graduation, and 303 of these require 
some professional preparation in connection with the college course. The 



54 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

national committee for the United States Chamber of Commerce in its report " 
shows for cities of from 8,000 to 30,000 population the median number of years 
of training above the eighth grade to be as follows : Men elementary teachers, 
6.2 years; women elementary teachers, 6.2 years; men Junior high school 
teachers, 7.4 years ; women junior high-school teachers, 6.7 years ; men senior 
high-school teachers, 8.4 years; women senior high-school teachers, 8.4 years. 
From the foregoing data it is evident that many teachers do not meet what 
are considered standard requirements, namely, two years of normal-school 
work in addition to four years of high-school work for elementary teachers 
and college work with professional training for high-school teachers. Of 
course some of the teachers in the cities now requiring two years of normal- 
school work and four years of college work entered the professions some 
years ago, when the standards were much lower. Every city should, however, 
require at least two years of normal-school work of all new tea'chers in the 
elementary schools and four years of college work with professional courses of 
all new high-school teachers. 

Regarding this point the national committee for the United States Chamber 
of Commerce says : 

There is a difference of two years between the professional training of ele- 
mentary and high school teachers. The work of the elementary school in form- 
ing the habits and ideals of the children is as important as the work of any 
other school division. The teachers should be as well trained as those of the 
junior or senior high school. This is not possible unless the salaries are the 
same for equal training and experience. Some progressive communities have 
already adopted this policy. It is a safe prediction that in those cities the 
work of the elementary school will be richer, the children will be kept in 
school longer, more of them will be attracted by the junior and the senior 
high school, the general level of a community's intelligence will be raised, and 
the future well-being of the city more definitely assured. 

SELECTION OF TEACHERS. 

In 483 of 528 cities reporting, the superintendent nominates teachers; in 228 
the nomination is made to a teachers' committee; and in 255 directly to the 
board of education. Within the past few years the method of selecting teachers 
has greatly changed. Not many years ago it was the custom of most boards 
of education to select teachers without even so much as consulting the super- 
intendent. Some boards of education, it is to be regretted, still continue the 
practice. 

This is especially true in those cities where there are many home girls teach- 
ing. If most of the teachers come from other places, school boards are usually 
willing to consult the superintendent regarding the teachers to be appointed. 

In those cities where the superintendent does not nominate teachers, the 
nominations are made by this or that member, or the nominations are most 
likely made in a meeting of the teachers' committee, which later reports its 
selection" to the entire board. Such a method of selecting teachers is an insult 
to the superintendent of schools, and he should so consider it, instead of quietly 
submitting. In those cities where boards of education select teachers without 
the superintendent's nomination they expect to hold the superintendent re- 
sponsible for results. If a board selects a second or third rate teacher who 
has no ability or desire to improve, it should not hold the superintendent for 
results. 

Though most superintendents in the cities reporting nominate teachers, a 
weakness still obtains, and that is that many have to make their nominations to 
a teachers' committee. The nominations should be made to the entire board, 

" Know and Help Your Schools, American City Bureau, New York City. 



THE TEACHER. 55 

so that every menjber of the board may know who is nominated and the quali- 
fications of each nominee. 

RULES AND REGULATIONS REGARDING TEACHERS. 

No doubt many school boards make too many rules, some of which are foolish, 
regarding the conduct of teachers in and out of school. It is a pedagogic princi- 
ple that the best teachers make few rules for the government of their classes. 
In fact, some excellent teachers make no rules at all, but deal with each case as 
it comes up. The same principle presumably applies to the making of rules for 
the government of teachers. A few rules are necessary, so that the teachers 
may know their relation to the superintendent, supervisors, principal attend- 
ance officer, and others. The general opinion is that a school board should not 
make rules regarding the use of a teacher's time outside of school hours, the 
important question being whether the teacher gets results. It is always under- 
stood that any conduct unbecoming a teacher can not be tolerated, but rules 
forbidding teachers to attend social affairs should never be adopted. Possibly 
some teachers give so much time to the "society life " of a community that they 
are inefficient, but to make a rule that no teacher should attend this or that 
social affair is a poor solution of the problem. The teachers who are becoming 
inefficient because of too much social life are the ones for the superintendent 
and the board to discipline. 

The following table, based upon the rules and regulations of 50 of the smaller 
cities, shows the different duties assigned teachers and the number of school 
boards specifically assigning these duties: 

School 
board. 
To be at school building a certain number of minutes before the opening 

of school 1 50 

To maintain good order 43 

Keep daily program posted, and adhere to it 31 

Keep daily record regarding attendance, etc., of pupils 50 

Make such reports as are required by the superintendent or the board 44 

See that the class room is well ventilated 38 

Report neglect of janitors 6 

Not enter upon social duties that will detract from classroom work 5 

Adhere strictly to course of study 15 

Attend teachers' meetings 36 

Inspect walls, books, etc., from time to time and report condition to super- 
intendent 12 

Not go out or have callers during the week 1 

Not leave room when special teachers are giving a lesson 12 

Be granted leave of absence for a day or two to visit other schools 11 

Not receive presents from pupils 6 

Detain pupils for a specified time only 29 

Not to use corporal punishment 5 

Report each case of corporal punishment to principal or superintendent-- 35 
Not to engage in evening-school work or give private lessons unless given 

special permission 2 

Not to visit other teachers after pupils begin to arrive 25 

Not to criticize other teachers 1 

To take immediate steps to ascertain cause of pupils' absence 22 

To report misconduct on school premises 8 

To be present on playgrounds at recess periods 8 

Not to distribute advertising material or other announcements regarding 

affairs not connected -with the schools 22 

When expecting to be absent to notify superintendent in due time 36 

Not to send pupils on errands without consent of principal or superin- 
tendent 19 

Refer all complaints of parents to principal or superintendent 22 

To be held responsible for neatness of room and care of furniture, 

books, etc 24 



56 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

To give due notice in case of resignation 26 

Not to marry during the term 1 3 

To become acquainted with rules and regulations of the board 46 

Several of these rules are ridiculous, as " not to go out or have callers during 
the week," " not to marry during school term." 

RETIREMENT FUND. 

Few of the smaller cities outside of States having State retirement funds 
provide a teacher's retirement fund, partly from the fact that such fund is 
difficult to provide and administer in the smaller places. The problem of 
securing proper provision for the teachers' comfort, however, will never be 
adequately met until a retirement fund, which should be State-wide in scope, 
is obtained. Without doubt there are few of the smaller city-school systems 
in which there are not several teachers too old to be retained in the classroom, 
but they are retained because it seems cruel to dismiss them when they have 
no other means of support and after they have given years of efficient service. 
Out of the meager salaries paid, and with the demands steadily becoming more 
insistent, it is impossible for the teacher to set aside enough, year by year, 
to keep her in comfort for any length of time after her earning period is 
passed. No school board should be content until it has not only put the sala- 
ries on a reasonable basis, but has made it possible through the establishment 
of a State retirement fund for every teacher to retire, after becoming too old 
to teach, on an income sufficient to keep her in comfort. 

THE SUBSTITUTE TEACHER. 

Many a good classroom of children has been spoiled during a week's absence 
of the regular classroom teacher because the school board has given no thought 
as to who should be employed as substitute teachers. The substitute-teacher 
problem is as serious or even more so than that of the " new " teacher. The 
new teacher is assigned a definite work, while the substitute teacher is here 
to-day and there to-morrow. She may be needed one day in the first grade, 
the next day in the sixth grade, and on the third day in some other grade. 
Then, too, one day she is sent to teach a class perhaps notoriously difficult to 
interest and control, while on the next day she may be sent to a more pleasant 
place, or she may be with one class in the morning and with another in the 
afternoon. Furthermore, in most instances the need is not known until just 
a few minutes before the day's session begins, scarcely affording time for the 
substitute to reach the post assigned her. The consequence is that she has 
not had time to make that special preparation for the day's work which the 
regular teacher makes, if she is in earnest, and which is doubly necessary 
for a substitute if she is to succeed in doing creditable work. Clearly, then, 
the most difficult position in the entire teaching corps of any city is that of the 
substitute teacher. She needs versatility, adaptability, intimate knowledge of 
the entire range of school work, poise, disciplinary ability, and all the other 
qualities of a good teacher to an even greater degree than that required of the 
regular teacher who has the same group of children long enough to become 
familiar with the idiosyncracies of each individual. 

In practice, most school systems in the smaller cities employ as substitute 
teachers almost anybody who can be gotten hold of quickly when needed, and 
no questions are asked, or, at least, not many — except possibly to inquire 
whether the person holds a teacher's license. 



THE TEACHER. 57 

Those usually employed as substitutes are girls who have Just graduated from 
high school, old ladies who taught years ago but who are willing to accommo- 
date the superintendent by teaching a few days, and housewives in need of a 
few dollars for pin money. If sufficient remuneration is paid to make the 
work an inducement, usually a few persons of ability can be found in every 
city who with sufficient training and close supervision can be brought to a 
point where, at least, it is better to employ them as substitutes than to dismiss 
the children. But a better plan is that of selecting a few of the very best teachers 
of the regular corps and relieving them entirely of assignment to a given class, 
thereby securing a " flying corps," to be shifted quickly from point to point as 
the emergency arises. Such teachers, instead of being paid less than regular 
teachers, should be paid considerably more in recognition of their superior 
ability and the difficulty of the work. In fact, this plan can not be put into 
operation unless more is paid, since none of the regular teachers would consent 
to be substitutes without more pay. They all know the difficulties that the 
substitute teacher encounters. 

These substitutes should be employed on full time, and when no substituting 
is needed they should be sent into various schools to give observation lessons 
for weak teachers or for teachers who are new to the work and need help 
which the supervisor has no time to give. Or if the principals are teaching 
principals, the substitute teachers may relieve the principals at times. Again, 
they may be assigned to a given grade for a day or two so as to give the regular 
teacher a much-needed opportunity of visiting classes in her own or in neigh- 
boring cities. 

THE TEACHER AS AN ADVISER. 

If a superintendent or a school board consults a few teachers regarding 
school policies, difficulties are apt to arise, and the whole administrative ma- 
chinery may be thrown out of gear. It is difficult for a school board to know 
which teachers to consult. The only democratic way is to consult them all. 
Soflne superintendents and school boards have realized that the intelligence of 
the whole teaching body should be capitalized and that it is unwise to consult 
only a few teachers. They have, therefore, encouraged the organization of 
teachers' councils. In some instances such councils have been organized only 
after considerable parleying with school officials. Much better results could be 
expected if the teachers were invited to offer their opinions upon matters that 
vitally concern the schools. 

To autocratic boards and superintendents the claim of teachers to be heard 
in board meetings seems radical. What right, it is asked, have teachers to ask 
to be consulted? The school board is responsible to the people, not to the 
teachers, and therefore must formulate all policies. It is replied that no right 
is taken away from the board, for its province is to legislate, and it should do 
so with all the light available. No right of the superintendent is abrogated, 
for he, too, should make his recommendations only upon the- fullest information 
possible. 

If a teachers' council attempts to usurp the prerogatives of a board or of 
a superintendent, it has no excuse for existing. It is generally recognized 
that the function of a council should be as follows : To secure active and effective 
direction of the schools by affording the largest opportunities for initiative 
on the part of teachers in the formulation of courses of study and in the 
selection of tex:tbooks; to encourage professional interests and to furnish a 
ready and effective means for the expression of sentiments and opinions with 
reference to questions of school policy. 



58 ADMINISTKATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

Superintendents and boards that have recognized teachers' councils report 
generally that the conferences of the members of the council and adminis- 
trative officials bring great help to the latter. One superintendent says that 
the educational council has been of more help to him than to the teachers, 
that it keeps him in touch with them, and that he is thus able to know their 
opinions upon various matters. In other words, this superintendent is given 
a broader view of school affairs by those who are closest to the children. A 
teacher of children knows the weak points of the course of study ; she knows 
whether the textbooks in use are well adapted to the children in her grade. 
Granting that the opinion of a single teacher might not be worth much, the 
combined opinions of the entire teaching corps are certainly worthy of con- 
sideration. 

Whatever course teachers' councils may take, it should be remembered that 
the school board and the superintendent are the final authorities representing 
the public and that teachers legally have no legislative functions. School 
boards and superintendents should, however, utilize the first-hand knowledge 
that teachers have of school conditions. 



SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION. 

One of the difficult problems that many superintendents in the smaller cities 
are called upon to solve is that of providing adequate and economical super- 
vision of instruction. They must decide how many supervisors and how many 
teachers and nonteaching principals there should be in proportion to the num- 
ber of teachers employed. No general rule can be laid down. In practice, 
however, there are in cities of between 10,000 and 30,000 population one super- 
visor, not including the superintendent of schools, to every 30 teachers, and one 
principal teaching not more than half time to every 26 teachers; and in cities 
of between 5,000 and 10,000 population there is one supervisor to every 28 
teachers and one principal not teaching more than half time to every 39 
teachers. 

The usual plans for securing supervision in small cities are: (1) A super- 
vising, or nonteaching, principal for each building; (2) a principal to super- 
vise three or four buildings; (3) a primary and a grammar grade supervisor 
for the entire city ; (4) departmental teaching in the grammar grades so 
that the principal may be free a few periods of the day for supervision; 
(5) a substitute teacher to relieve teaching principals so that they may super- 
vise for a day or half day a Aveek. 

The plan to be followed depends upon conditions. In cities having buildings 
of 16 or more rooms each, the best plan is to have a supervising principal for 
each building, but in cities having small buildings of 8 or 10 rooms each it U 
very doubtful whether a board of education can justify the expenditure, neces- 
sary to employ a supervisory principal for each building. If, for instance, 
there are six school buildings of 10 rooms each, and if there is a supervising 
principal in charge of each building, the cost of such supervision would be 
about $12,000 a year, while the cost of instruction would be about $75,000. If 
to the $12,000 there be added $5,000 for the salary of the superintendent of 
schools and $6,000 for supervisors of the special subjects, the total cost of super- 
vision would be $23,000, or about one-third of the amount expended for instruc- 
tion. It would seem in this hypothetical case that too much is spent on the 
supervisory force in proportion to the amount spent for teaching. 

The plan of dividing a city into districts each containing several small build- 
ings and of employing a supervising principal for each district, while not ideal, 
has been made effective in some cities. 



SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTTON. 59 

A better plan where there are so many small buildings that a super^ising 
principal can not be placed in charge of each is to employ a primary and a 
grammar grade supervisor for the entire city. Whether or not both a primary 
and a grammar grade supervisor should be employed depends, of course, upon 
the size of the city. In a city employing from 40 to 70 elementary-school teach- 
ers, a primary supervisor would be sufficient, as this would leave only the 
grammar grades to be supervised by the superintendent. In cities employing 
more than 70 elementary teachers, good use could be made of both a primary 
and a grammar grade supervisor if there are no supervising principals. If the 
grammar grades are centralized in one building, the principal should be free 
most of the time for the purpose of supervising the instruction. 

Since the tendency is to erect larger elementary-school buildings so as to re- 
duce the number of small buildings, thereby making the schools more efficient, 
the problem of supervision can be solved by placing a supervising principal in 
charge of each building. In most cities having only 20 or 25 elementary teach- 
ers all the children could be housed in one building, thus making it possible 
for the superintendent to do all the supervisory work; that is, if he is pro- 
vided with clerical assistance. 

In the cities that have supervising principals or teaching principals in charge 
of each of the elementary schools or of a group of elementary schools, every- 
thing possible should be done to economize the principal's time, so that he may 
be free to give practically all of it to supervision, or if he has to teach so that 
he may give his attention to his classes without being interrupted by telephone 
calls, which in many school systems require much of the principal's time to 
answer. These calls are permitted to come at any moment, and if the prin- 
cipal is visiting a classroom, he must leave to answer the telephone, or if 
teaching he must leave his class. This nuisance has been lessened to a certain 
extent in some schools by appointing a pupil to answer the telephone, but in 
a majority of cases the principal himself is wanted by some parent or other 
person. 

To eliminate this evil telephones in the school buildings should be connected 
only with the superintendent's office. Parents should have no direct telephone 
connection with the school buildings except through the superintendent's office, 
where a clerk should attend to all calls. Principals are also interrupted at 
almost any time in the day by visits from parents and others in regard to this 
or that matter, often of little consequence ; so, in order to lessen this evil, there 
should be a regular office hour agreed upon by the principals and the superin- 
tendent, which should be the same for all elementary schools, and should 
be printed in the report cards and periodically sent home to parents so that 
it may become fixed in the minds of the parents that the principals may be 
seen only at certain times in the day. 

In cities employing 30 or more elementary and high-school teachers and 
having a high-school enrollment of 100 or more, the high-school principal 
shoud not be required to teach all the time. One of the weaknesses of most 
high schools is a lack of constructive supervision. Too often each high-school 
teacher goes her own sweet way without considering how her work relates to 
that of the other teachers. Supervision is needed in every high school to help 
coordinate the work of the several departments, to secure more uniformity in 
marking pupils, and to secure better classroom methods of instruction. 

Supervision of the so-called special subjects is a misnomer in most of the 
smaller cities. Though called supervisors, they are nothing but peripatetic 
teachers of music, art, and other subjects. By teaching a class once every two 
w^eeks or once a week they can accomplish little unless the regular classroom 
teacher is able to give additional instruction in these subjects. The supervisor 



60 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

should do more supervising and require more teaching of these subjects on the 
part of the regular teacher. If the supervisor or special teacher, as she is some- 
times called, does all the teaching, the regular teacher will feel no responsi- 
bility, saying, " That is the work of the supervisor of music or art." In a cer- 
tain school that had employed a supervisor of penmanship for many years the 
scores made by the children in penmanship revealed that it was below average. 
When the cause was sought for the rather poor showing as compared vnth 
other cities where no supervisors of penmanship -were employed it was dis- 
covered that the teachers depended almost entirely upon the supervisor for 
results. If this supervisor had supervised and held the teachers responsible, the 
results would without doubt have been better. In some cities where there are 
special teachers of music the results are poor because the teachers have few or 
no music lessons between the dates of the music teacher's visits. 

The problem of teaching the special subjects may be solved by organizing 
the school so that the pupils from the first grade up have their recitations in 
arithmetic, history, geography, and the other older subjects with one teacher 
and report to special teachers in other rooms for music, drawing, physical 
training, and the other newer subjects. If an arrangement of the kind is made, 
the overhead charge of special supervision is eliminated. At Sewickley, Pa., 
for example, a few years ago the superintendent of schools after a visit to 
Gary, Ind., was convinced that he could introduce play, manual training, and 
home economics without employing supervisors of those subjects; so a pro- 
gram was arranged whereby the regular classroom teachers are kept occupied 
while pupils are receiving instruction in roanual training and home economics, 
and while they are on the play ground. To do this the work is departmen- 
talized throughout the grades; that is, there are special teachers for music, 
drawing, manual training, home economics, and play. All the older subjects, 
as arithmetic, geography, and history, are taught by the regular classroom 
teacher. The superintendent of schools says : 

With the change of school organization from the inflexible one-room unit to 
the present flexible interdependable condition came manual training, domestic 
science, and physical training. Ordinarily, the introduction of these depart- 
ments would have meant additional instructors. However, the plan operated 
without any change in the number of the staff. This was a downright economy 
in teaching force as well as enrichment of the program content. 



GRADING AND PROMOTION OF PUPILS. 

Various arrangements for the individual child's progress through the grades 
unhindered and unhurried by others are matters of study and experiment at 
the present time, notwithstanding the fact that ever since pupils have been 
classified by grades their promotion has been a subject for discussion in every 
school system. 

A promotion system is primarily a means of giving each pupil the best 
chance for scholastic progress in accordance with his individual needs and 
capacities, consistent with the necessities of class instruction, which is the 
basis of most teaching, whatever m.ay or may not be its merits. This being 
the case, there is need of good workable promotion machinery, so that the good 
of the individual pupil's progress is not lost sight of in the administration 
exigencies of an orderly grade organization. 

A considerable number of plans for improving the promotion machinery 
have been offered and variously tried. The principles underlying them may 
perhaps be classified as follows; 



GRADING AND PROMOTION OF PUPILS. 61 

1. Shorter promotion intervals; that is, at least semiannually instead of an- 
nually, This eases up the application of the promotion system. 

2. Freer promotion of individuals whenever they seem capable of doing 
higher work, at other than the regular promotion times. 

3. Promotion by subject. This has been generally adopted for departmen- 
talized work, but sparingly otherwise. 

4. The provision for a supplementary or review term, a semester or less, at 
intervals in the course of study, which can be skipped by the better students, 
while the poorer ones use it to clear up shortcomings. 

5. Two or more parallel series of classes, or sections within a class proceeding 
at different rates, permitting a closer classification of pupils or a rate of progress 
as well as a state of attainment basis, and so interlocking that pupils can shift 
from a fast to a slow class or vice versa at various points. 

6. Division of the class into two or more groups, constant or varying, which 
are conceived not so much as having different speeds of progress through the 
curriculum but as varying in the amount of grade work which they attempt 
beyond an essential minimum requirement. Part of the class work may be 
done as a single class whole, and other parts in various groups according to 
capacity of pupils in these lines. 

7. Individual attention, supplementing class work, by which can be secured 
such results as special help for weaker students, reduced programs for those 
who can not handle all the subjects simultaneously at the regular grade speed, 
shifting of time from a pupil's strong subject that does not need it to his weak 
subject that does, and added advance work for those aiming to skip a grade. 

8. Individual attention to the extent of having each pupil proceed at his own 
rate, with a minimum of organization as a class. 

Most of the various plans, with the exception of semiannual and subject pro- 
motions in departmentalized work, are much less practiced than we would be 
led to expect from the claims with which they have been heralded. Most of 
these schemes come and go. The celebrated Cambridge double-track plan has 
been modified beyond recognition. The Pueblo plan emphasized the importance 
of the individual so effectively that all school men took notice, but as an ex- 
clusive system it is doubtful whether it can be found in operation anywhere. In 
brief, all these plans have made their contributions and now appear only as ele- 
ments in other plans. 

The reason that none of these schemes have been universally adopted, and 
that they have been modified so as to be unrecognizable, may be explained by 
several practical difficulties. Some of the plans for convenient operation need 
larger school buildings than prevail in the smaller cities. Some of them are 
rather too complicated from the administrative side to be successfully handled 
unless the administrator is particularly well qualified and is thoroughly in- 
terested in the scheme in view. From the teacher's standpoint also there are 
complications and demands for special skill ; and with some of the plans there 
are such faults as the superficial speeding of bright pupils and confusion in 
class management. These faults may not be inherent in the plans themselves, 
but they are likely to appear when the plans are applied by teachers who do 
not understand them. Many an apparently good plan fails when not skillfully 
handled. Any of the foregoing plans must be handled by experts or they fail. 
They make more problems for the superintendent and teacher. The nearer a 
system comes to the lock-step system of promotion, the easier it is for the teacher 
and superintendent. One superintendent somewhat naively calls attention to 
the fact that since special classes and sections were formed in his school there 
are more questions coming up that he must decide. The old annual lock-step 

90263°— 22 5 



62 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

system of promotion caused little vexation of spirit in the superintendent ; much 
in the children. Fortunately for the children, in many of the smaller cities 
conditions are becoming reversed, but after all the discussion regarding the 
advantages of semiannual promotions only 245, or 47 per cent of the superintend- 
ents reporting, promote pupils semiannully. 

The obvious advantage of the semiannual over the annual promotion plan is 
that pupils who fail of promotion have to repeat only a half year's work. On 
the other hand there are 16 opportunities for failure in the elementary schools 
promoting semiannally and only 8 in schools promoting annually. 

Dr. Leonard P. Ayres,!^ discussing annual and semiannual promotions, says 
that from a purely mathematical point of view the change from annual to semi- 
annual promotion in a school system — 

has no effect whatever on the average progress rate of the children. If, for 
example, 80 per cent of all the children are promoted every time, it makes no 
difference in the average progress of the whole group whether the promotions 
take place once a year or 10 times a year. But while the average progress 
of children is not changed, their distribution through the different grades is 
materially affected. 

If 100 children are promoted annually at a steady 80 per cent rate for eight 
years we shall find them distributed through the grades as follows: Fourth 
grade, 3 children ; fifth grade, 11 children ; sixth grade, 27 children ; seventh 
grade, 38 children; eighth grade, 21 children; total 100. 

If the promotions take place semiannually instead of annually, the distribu- 
tion of these 100 children at the end of the eight years will be as follows: 
Grade 5B, 3 children; 6A, 10 children; 6B, 19 children; 7A, 26 children; 7B, 
24 children ; 8A, 14 children ; 8B, 4 children ; total, 100. 

The difference between the two distributions is marked. Under the annual 
system 21 children have completed the eighth grade, while under the semi- 
annual system only 4 have completed it. On the other hand the annual system 
has left 3 children in the fourth grade, while the semiannual one has left 
none lower than the 5B grade. The annual system has carried more children 
through on schedule time but left more back in the grades, while the semiannual 
system has carried fewer all the way through but left fewer badly retarded. 
The annual systetm has resulted in better conditions for th few, while the semi- 
annual one has bettered them for the many. 

Classification of pupils in half-year grades has not remedied the evil of 
classifying together pupils of widely different attainments. In many schools 
the bright, the average, and the slow are assigned to the same half-year grade 
and all taught by the same teacher. Just as in any other scheme where 
children of all degrees of ability and attainment are classified together, the 
lesson is too long for some and too short for others. The best pupils in the 
class are not tried to the full extent of their ability ; the poorest pupils are 
strained to the utmost. At the close of the semester the pupils who fail must 
repeat a half year's work. The effect of this is bad. 

But wherein lies the remedy? In cities where there are small school build- 
ings promotion at half-year intervals is about all that is possible, but in cities 
where the school buildings are large enough to permit of several rooms for 
each grade it is possible to divide the school into classes separated by intervals 
of five or six weeks' work. 

If there are three first-grade teachers in a school building, it would be possi- 
ble to form at least six classes, or even nine, based on the ability of the children, 
which could be determined by mental tests and by trial in the classroom. 

In a certain school system in a city of about 10,000 population there are five 
first-grade, four second-grade, four third-grade, and three fourth-grade teachers 
in the same building; but no attempt is made to classify the children so that 

i^Ayres, Leonard P. The Effect of Promotion Rates on School Efficiency. In Am. Sch. 
Bd. Jour., May, 1913, p. 9. 



GKADING AND PROMOTION OF PUPILS. 63 

there will be only an interval of a few weeks' work between each class. All the 
first-grade children are assigned the same work, and all are expected to com- 
plete the same amount during the half-year term. Those who do not must 
repeat the half-year's work. If the children were divided into groups, there 
would be only about four weeks between two groups, so that whenever a pupil 
could not maintain himself in his group, he could be placed in the next lower, 
and whenever a pupil showed that he could work more rapidly than his group, 
he could be advanced to the next higher group. If a pupil had to remain out 
of school for a month, he could upon his return start in just where he left off. 
Some pupils could complete more than the first grade and do part of the second. 
Dr. W. T. Harris, formerly United States Commissioner of Education, writing 
of the plan of classifying pupils with an interval of a few weeks betAveen 
classes, says : 

Instead of the Procrustean bed of grades, the pupils should be classified into 
classes of 30 or less each. These classes in all large schools should be sepa- 
rated by intervals of about five weeks' work. As often as these classes, any of 
them, become too small by the withdrawal of pupils, or too large by the assign- 
ment to them of newcomers, there should be a new formation of classes. The 
best pupils of one class should be sent up to the next, the best from the next 
below should be promoted and joined with the pupils remaining. Those not 
promoted are now united with the best of the class that is five weeks' work 
behind them. * * * This process of continual readjustment of classifica- 
tion * * * will render the whole school system elastic and mobile. Like 
the current of a river, there will be everywhere forward motion — in the middle 
the current is more rapid, at the sides the current flows more slowly. The 
work of the grade laid down for a year's study will be accomplished in three 
or three and a half quarters by the brightest; by the dullest and slowest in 
five quarters. There will be no temptation to push on a slow pupil or drag him 
beyond his powers ; no temptation to promote a pupil to a new grade's work 
before thoroughly completing what is below him. 

It may be urged that this system would cause a collection of the dull and 
stupid pupils into classes by themselves and of bright pupils into classes by 
themselves. This, however, does not hapi:>en. The fact is that the best pupils 
from below are allowed to rise through the masses above them as fast as their 
ability can carry them. " The stream of bright pupils from below is inex- 
haustible. From the primary grades it ascends, continually passing fixed 
points to points that move on more slowly. *In every class there will be its 
quota of bright pupils, some leading the class and some just sustaining them- 
selves in it, having recently joined it." In a system that gives no attention to 
the grouping of children except to have them in classes a half year apart, 
all the bright children attain the top of the class and mark time and the slow 
ones fall hopelessly to the bottom long before promotion time and await pro- 
motion day, when they will be turned back to go over the same road again. 
It is recognized, however, that the plan is practicable only in buildings where 
there are several teachers for the same grade, so that the 80 or more children 
may be divided into four or more groups. 

The plan of grouping children according to ability, whether there are short 
or long intervals between classes, is becoming more common. Of ,520 superin- 
tendents replying to the question, If there are enough elementary-school children 
of any one grade in a building to form two or more rooms, are the children 
divided into groups according to ability? 297 answered in the affirmative. The 
methods of ascertaining ability are mental and standard educational tests and 
the teacher's opinion based upon the children's class work. 

RATE OF PROMOTION. 

The rate of promotion varies greatly in different cities. Some promote only 
75 per cent of their pupils, while others promote 95 per cent. Just what per 



64 



ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 



cent of the pupils should be promoted in cities having semiannual or annual 
promotions? An annual promotion rate of 95 per cent comes nearer a theo- 
retical rate than does 75 per cent, for if the promotion rate is 75 per cent year 
after year, 867 out of 1,000 children entering the first grade would fail in eight 
years; with a promotion rate as high as 95 per cent, 302 children out of 1,000 
would fail. 

The following table shows the effects of different annual promotion rates in 
a school system, assuming that none die or drop out :^ 

Effects of annual promotion rates. 





Years 
required 


Failures 


Children 


Per cent 
of 


Promo- 


for 


each 

1,000 

children 

in 8 years. 


in each 


children 


tion 


average 


1,000 


above 


rate. 


child to 


failing in 


normal 




complete 


8 years. 


age for 




8 grades. 




grades. 


100 


8.00 











99 


8.08 


70 


68 


3.4 


98 


8.16 


140 


132 


6.7 


97 


8.24 


210 


192 


9.9 


96 


8.33 


280 


249 


12.9 


■ 95 


8.42 


350 


302 


15.9 


94 


8.50 


420 


352 


18.7 


93 


8.60 


490 


398 


21.4 


92 


8.69 


560 


442 


24.0 


91 


8.78 


630 


483 


26.4 


90 


8.89 


700 


622 


28.8 


89 


8.98 


770 


558 


31.1 


88 


9.09 


840 


591 


33.3 


87 


9.19 


910 


623 


35.4 


86 


9.30 


980 


652 


37.4 


85 


9.41 


1,050 


679 


39.4 


84 


9.52 


1,120 


705 


41.2 


83 


9.63 


1,190 


729 


43.0 


82 


9.75 


1,260 


751 


44.8 


81 


9.87 


1,330 


771 


46.4 


80 


10.00 


1,400 


790 


48.0 


79 


10.12 


1,470 


808 


49.5 


78 


10.27 


1,540 


824 


51.0 


77 


10.38 


1,610 


840 


52.4 


76 


10.52 


1,680 


854 


53.7 


75 


10.66 


1,750 


867 


55.0 



In practice the average promotion rate in the smaller cities is about 90 per 
cent, judging from the rates of promotion in 38 typical school systems in dif- 
ferent sections of the country. The following table shows the per cent pro- 
moted by grades in the 38 cities: 

Per cent promoted in each grade, 38 cities combined. 



Grade. 


Per cent 
promoted 
of number 
in grade 
at close 
of term. 


Per cent 
promoted 
on total 
enrollment 
for term. 


1 


84.6 
91.2 
92.3 
92.4 
90.8 
91.4 
90.3 
91.5 


77.9 


2 


87.5 


3 


84.9 


4 . . 


86.8 




87.4 


6 


85.0 


7 


84.7 


8 


84.9 






Average for 100,000 children .... ... 


90.1 


85.1 







1 Ayres, Leonard P. The Effect of Promotion Rates on School Efficiency. 
1913, p. 10. 



In Am. Sch. Bd. Jour., May, 



GRADING AND PROMOTION OF PUPILS. 65 

Possibly a 100 per cent promotion rate would be the best. As it is, a teacher 
in any grade must decide whether her pupils have completed the work of the 
grade. If in her judgment they have, they are sent on to the next grade ; if 
they have not, they repeat the grade. The receiving teacher has nothing to say 
in the matter. It might be a good plan to promote all the pupils and then 
let the teacher who receives them decide what ones can do the work of her 
grade. This suggestion is made in view of the fact that an experiment con- 
ducted at Springfield and Decatur, 111., shows that in these two cities all the 
children can be promoted to their advantage. 

The plan is for each teacher to make up the usual list of pupils she would 
recommend for promotion and for failure. The pupils marked for failure are 
advanced to the next higher grade, but on probation, and are subjected to a 
regimen carefully devised and frequently checked up with a view to stimulating 
the pupils, the parents, and the teachers to increased efforts. 

At the close of the first semester of 1918-19 in the two cities 1,276 pupils 
were listed for failure. This was before the teacher knew that the children 
were to be promoted on condition. As a result of the experiment, it was found 
that over 75 per cent maintained themselves in the grade to which they had been 
provisionally advanced. 

This procedure was repeated in June, at the close of the second semester, 
when 881 pupils who would ordinarily have failed were provisionally promoted. 
The next fall these children began the work in the grades to which they were 
advanced, and 75 per cent of them made good. The experiment was tried for 
the third time when 984 pupils were placed on probation in the grade above. 
This time about 60 per cent maintained themselves. 

The question may be asked. How many of the pupils promoted on probation 
came up again for provisional promotion? Of the original 1,276 probationers, 
1,087 did not again become probationers. 

From these and other data it is evident that the experiment has thus far 
been successful in these two cities. The plan is at least worth a trial in other 
places. 

THE EXAMINATION. 

The formal examination held at stated times has fallen into disrepute as a 
means of determining whether pupils are to be promoted or not, but a few school 
superintendents still use the examination to determine fitness of promotion. 

The examination as a means of determining a pupil's fitness for promotion 
has been discontinued by progressive -school superintendents because it leads 
to " cramming," to undue worry and nervousness, and to working with the 
sole end in view of passing, causing the entire work of the school to center 
about the one idea. 

It is the custom in many schools to average the examination marks and the 
classroom marks or to depend entirely upon the classroom grades. 

The investigations made regarding teachers' marks show that these marks 
are inaccurate and unreliable records of the performance or ability or accom- 
plishment of pupils, and that the faith which both pupils and teachers have 
placed in traditional systems of marking is a blind, unreasoning one. 

It may be asked. What is the teacher rating? Is it the performance of a 
pupil in a certain examination, without any consideration of the pupil's ability? 
Is it the improvement, the purpose, the accomplishment, the accuracy, the neat- 
ness, the acquisition of knowledge, or what? What does it mean for a pupil 
to receive a mark of 80 per cent? Eighty per cent of what? Of what the 
teacher thinks the child should know? Thus it is evident that there can be no 



66 



ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 



absolutely correct way of marking pupils, all depending upon the teacher, her 
standards, her moods, etc. 

A plan based upon the normal distribution of ability is recommended by sev- 
eral persons who have made studies of teachers' marks. The plan is for the 
teacher to pick out from 3 to 10 per cent of her class who are excellent, and to 
place the others in four or five groups with respect to these. As Bennett says :" 
" We can not presume to state how much ability a pupil has, nor how valuable 
his work has been, but we can state his relative standing in the class with rea- 
sonable accuracy." 

One study " recommends a marking system based on the following distribu- 
tion of the individuals of a given class : Three per cent, excellent ; 21 per cent, 
superior ; 45 per cent, medium ; 19 per cent, inferior ; and 12 per cent, very 
poor. Of this last group, approximately 11 per cent should be conditioned and 
1 per cent failed, it is asserted. 

The conclusions reached by some other studies are shown in the following 
table : 

Distribution of pupils' marks according to several investigators. 



A 


B 


C 


D 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


10 


20 


40 


20 


10 


15 


50 


15 


4 


24 


44 


24 


4 


21 


50 


18 


3 


22 


50 


22 


2 


23 


50 


23 


7 


20 


42 


21 


7 


24 


38 


24 


10 


39 


39 


8 


14 


44 


33 


6.5 



CatteU 

Smith 

Ruediger 

Meyer 

Foster 

Dearborn 

Gray 

Cajori 

Starch: 

Elementary 
Advanced . . 



Per cent. 
10 
10 
4 
7 
3 
2 
7 
7 



4 
2.5 



Although there are differences of opinion, they fall within the range of 
variation of a flexible system. Such a scale might be stated as follows: Of 
the total number of marks given, let the A's comprise from 3 to 12 per cent, 
the B's from 15 to 25 per cent, the C's from 40 to 50 per cent, the D's from 
15 to 25 per cent, and the E's or failures from 2 to 12 per cent. 

Bennett" proposes the following: 

A very satisfactory plan and one which has proved easy to use is to let A 
mean " one of the best quarter " of the class ; let B mean " one of the second 
best quarter " ; let C mean all the others who have done a passing quality of 
work ; and let D mean that the work so marked is not acceptable or up to pass- 
ing requirements. It should not be the policy of the school arbitrarily to 
require any to fail; therefore, abundant notice, special instruction, and fre- 
quent reclassification should eliminate D's from the final marks. 

Such plans as the foregoing are based upon tw^o assumptions: 

1. That the work of a given grade and the standards demanded therein 
shall be so shaped that the large majority of the class shall at all times be 
doing work of a passing grade. 

2. That in every class the normal distribution of ability is approximately 
the same. 

If such plans were adopted in graded schools there would not be the wide 
variations in standards of promotion that are found in the same school systems 



" Bennett, Henry E. School Efficiency. Ginn & Co., 1917. 

18 Finkelstein, I. E. The Marjiing System in Theory and Practice. 
Baltimore, 1913. 

" Bennett, Henry E. School Efficiency. Ginn & Co., 1917. 



Warwick & York, 



ACCOUNTING, RECORDS, AND REPORTS. 67 

and even in the same buildings. One teacher may have 40 per cent of her chil- 
dren marked " A," while another teacher in the same building teaching the 
same grade may have only 5 per cent marked "A" and 40 per cent marked " C." 
Under the foregoing plan in operation it is evident that each class itself would 
virtually determine its own standard by which the individual member shall 
be judged in respect to promotion. 



ACCOUNTING, RECORDS, AND REPORTS. 

In many of the smaller cities but little attention is given to fiscal school ac- 
counting. Bills are paid and the secretary of the school board makes no clas- 
sification of expenditures for fuel, light, janitor supplies, pupil supplies, etc. ; 
so at the close of the school year It is a difficult matter for him to make out 
the fiscal reports called for by the State department of public instruction or 
the United States Bureau of Education, and as an aid in the administration of 
the schools his system of accounting is practically worthless. 

In order that accounting may aid in economical administration the accounts 
should be so kept that the cost per pupil of each school building and each 
school department as kindergarten, elementary, junior high, and senior high 
schools may be determined. If this is done, extravagance in the use of sup- 
plies, etc., in any building or department may be detected. If, for example, the 
cost of textbooks or pupil supplies in an elementary school building is much 
above the average for the city, an investigation would reveal the cause. If a 
school board keeps its accounts to show the cost of fuel per 1,000 cubic feet 
in each building, variations from the mean unit cost of the system and of other 
neighboring city-school systems can be detected. In a small city that had no 
accounting system the superintendent had the board introduce a cost-account 
system, which revealed that the cost of fuel per 1,000 cubic feet in school No. 1 
w\as $1.57 ; in school No. 2, $1.52 ; in school No. 3, $2.49 ; in school No. 4, $1.82 ; 
and in school No. 5, $1.57. The board made an investigation to determine why 
fuel in school No. 3 cost per 1,000 cubic feet so much more than the average 
for the city. They discovered that the furnace needed repairing and that the 
janitor did not know how to fire properly. Without such an accounting system, 
which also showed the cost per unit of 1,000 cubic feet each month in the year, 
the waste in the one building would in all probability never have been dis- 
covered. 

If the cost per student hour in each high-school subject were obtained, there 
would no doubt be startling surprises in some school systems. Where one high- 
school subject costs five times the amount of another the fact must be explained. 
Indeed, there may be no satisfactory explanation, yet without comparing the 
student hour cost of different high-school subjects, a superintendent may not 
realize that certain subjects are being overemphasized, and that he could so 
organize his school as to reduce the student hour-cost of a certain subject costing 
five or six times as much as other subjects. For instance, in one small city school 
system the cost of Latin instruction in the third and fourth years is 55 cents per 
student recitation, and in other subjects about 9 cents per pupil recitation. A 
superintendent who is not wholly blind to the fact that relative values should be 
considered can not help asking whether Latin is worth six times as much as the 
other subjects. Possibly few superintendents can be made to realize how nuicli 
more emphasis they are placing on some subjects until the cost of each subject 
is reduced to a per-student recitation basis. 



68 



ADMINISTRATIO]!^ OF SCHOOLS IN" SMALLER CITIES. 



Several years ago the superintendent of schools at Newton, Mass., where the 
cost of each pupil recitation in the high schools was ascertained, discovered that 
5.9 pupil recitations in Greek cost the same as 23.8 pupil recitations in French, 
that 12 pupil recitations in science were equivalent in cost to 19.2 pupil recita- 
tions in English, and that it takes 41.7 pupil recitations in vocal music to equal 
the cost of 13.9 pupil recitations in art. The superintendent, commenting on 
these facts, said : 

Thus confronted, do we feel like denying the equivalency of these values? 
We can not deny our responsibility for fixing them as they are. That is 
a wholesome feeling, if it leads to a wiser assignment of values in the future. 
Greater wisdom in these assignments will come, not by reference to any sup- 
posedly fixed and inherent values in these subjects themselves, but from a 
study of local conditions and needs, I know nothing about the absolute value 
of a recitation In Greek as compared with a recitation in French or English. 
I am convinced, however, by very concrete and quite local considerations that 
when the obligations of the present year expire we ought to purchase no more 
Greek instruction at the rate of 5.9 pupil recitations for a dollar. The price 
must go down or we shall invest in something else. 

The foregoing examples are given to call attention to the fact that cost 
accounting helps a superintendent to decide whether or not certain activities 
should be continued. For instance, in the school where Latin in the third and 
fourth year costs six times as much as the other subjects, the superintendent 
should ponder whether or not he should continue to offer the subject after the 
second year, especially in view of the fact that other valuable subjects are not 
included in the high-school curriculum. 

In order to keep school accounts systematically, superintendents of schools 
in the smaller cities should persuade their boards of education to adopt a system 
of bookkeeping based upon the classification of receipts and expenditures recom- 
mended several years ago by the Department of Superintendents of the National 
Education Association. The schedule recommended is as follows: 



PAYMENTS. 

I. EXPENSES (COST OF CONDUCTING SCHOOL SYSTEM). 





Total. 


Salaries. 


Other 
objects. 


Expenses of General Control (Overhead Ciiaeges). 








2 School elections and school census 








3. Finance offices and accounts 






4. Legal sendees 




::::::::::::l;::::::::::: 


5 Operation and maintenance of office building 














:::::::::::::;::::::: r :::::::: 






1 








8. Enforcement of compulsory education and truancy law s 






9. Other expenses of general control 










1 


10. Total . 




! 






1 



ACCOUNTING, RECORDS, AND REPORTS. 



69 





Total. 


Schools and special activities. 




Day 
schools. 


Evening 
schools. 


Voca- 
tional 
schools. 


Special 
schools. 






Ele- 
men- 
tary, 
includ- 

kindcr- 
garten. 


Second- 
ary 
(high). 


Ele- 
men- 
tary. 


Second- 
ary. 


Spe- 
cial 
activ- 
ities. 


Expenses of Instruction. 

11. Salariesof supervisors of grades and sub- 
jects 


















12. Other expenses of supervisors 


















13. Salaries of principals and their clerks 


















■ 14. Other expenses of principals 


















15. Salaries of teachers 



















16. Textbooks 


















17. Stationery and supplies used in instruc- 
tion 


















18. Other expenses of instruction 
































1 


19. Total 




1 i ! 1 
















Expenses of Operation of School Plant. 
20. Wages of janitors and other employees. . 


















21. Fuel 


















22. Water 



















23. Light and power 


















24. Janitor's supplies 


















25. Other expenses of operation of school 
plant 























1 












26. Total 




t 1 . ... 
























Expenses of Maintenance of School 
Plant. 

27. Repair of buildings and upkeep of 
grounds 


















28. Repair and replacement of equipment.. . 


















29. Insurance 


















30. Other expenses of maintenance of school 
plant 




































31. Total 
























... 












Expenses of Auxiliary Agencies. 

libraries. 
32. Salaries 


















33. Books 


















84. Other expenses 


















PROMOTION OF HEALTH. 

35. Salaries 


















36. Other expenses 


















TRANSPORTATION OF PUPILS. 

37. Salaries 


















38. Other expenses 










1 " 






















39. Total 
































Miscellaneous Expenses. 
40. Payments to private schools 


















41. Payments to schools of other civil divi- 
sions 


















42. Care of children In institutions 


















43. Pensions 


















44. Rent 


















4.^. Ot.herTnisrSplJa.nptonSP'x^r*'"''*^-'' ' 




































46. Total 








1 1 














1 1 







70 ADMINISTKATIOlvr OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

II. OUTLAYS (CAPITAL ACQUISITION AND CONSTRUCTION). 





Total. 


Schools and special activities. 




Day 

schools. 


Evening 
schools. 


Voca- 
tional 
schools. 


Special 
schools. 






Ele- 
men- 
tary, 
includ- 
ing 
kinder- 
garten. 


Second- 
(high). 


Ele- 
men- 
tary. 


Second- 
ary. 


cial 
activ- 
ities. 


47. Land 


















48. New buildings 


















49. Alteration of old buildings 


















50. Equipment of new buildings and 
grounds . . .... 


















51. Equipment of old buildings, exclusive 
of replacements 





































52. Total 





































in. OTHER PAYMENTS. 



53. Redemption of bonds $. 

54. Redemption of short-term loans 

55. Payment of warrants and orders of preceding year 

56. Payments to sinking funds 

57. Payments of interest 

58. Miscellaneous payments, including payments to trust fimds, textbooks to be sold 

to pupils, etc 

59. Total 

60. Balances at close of year at $. 

61. Total payments and balances 



RECEIPTS. 

REVENUE RECEIPTS. 



62. Subventions and grants from State $. 

63. Siibventions and grants from county 

64. Subventions and grants from other civil divisions 

65. Appropriations from city treasury 

66. General property taxes 

67. Business taxes (licenses, excise taxes, taxes on corporations, taxes on occupa- 

tions, etc.) 

68. Poll taxes 

69. Fines and penalties 

70. Rents and interest 

71. Tuition and other fees from patrons 

72. Transfers from other districts in payment of tuition . 

73. All other revenue 

74. Total revenue receipts 



NONREVENUE RECEIPTS. 



75. Loans and bond sales •?. 

76. Warrants issued and unpaid 

77. Sales of real property and proceeds of insurance adjustments 

78. Sales of equipment and supplies 

79. Refund of payments 

80. Other nonrevenue receipts 

81. Total nonrevenue receipts 

82. Total receipts 

83. Balances at beginning of year 

84. Total receipts and balances 



ACCOUNTING, RECORDS, AND REPORTS. 
VALUE OF SCHOOL PROPERTIES. 



71 



Class of buildings. 


Total value 

of sites, 
buildings, 

and 
equipment. 


Value of 
sites and 
buildmgs. 


Value of 
equipment. 


Interest 

on value 

of school 

plant. 


General control 










Elementary schools 










Secondary schools 






























Special schools 





















Bookkeeping blanks based upon the distribution of expenditures may be had 
from several publishing houses. The following shows kind of blank that the 
clerk of the school board should use in keeping his accounts in accordance 
with the foregoing schedule: 

CLERK'S FINANCIAL RECORD. 



EXPENSES INCURRED FOR FISCAL TEAR ENDINQ , 19 



I. GENERAL CONTROL. 



Warrant. | 

1 


To whom issued. 


Amount. 


Board of 

Education. 

Clerk's 

Office. 


School 
election. 
School 
census. 


Educa- 
tional 
adminis- 
tration. 


Other 
expen- 
ses. 


Total. 


Super- 
vision. 


No. 


Date. 








1 


1 


1 


I 


1 


1 


1 








1 


i 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 



m. AUXILIARY AGENCIES. 



Salaries 

of 
teachers. 


Supplies 

used In 

instruction. 


Text 
books. 


Other ex- 
penditures of 
instruction. 


Total. 


Library. 


Lectures 
and other 
auxiliary 
agencies. 


Trans- 
portation. 

1 


Total. 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 1 




1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 1 


1 1 



IV. OPERATION OF PLANT. 



V. MAINTENANCE OF PLANT. 



Janitor 

wages 

and 

supplies. 


Fuel. 


Water, 
light, 
power. 


Other ex- 
penses of 
operation. 


Total. 


Repair and 

upkeep of 

buildings and 

grounds. 


Repair and 
upkeep of 
equipment. 


Insur- 
ance. 


Other 
expenses. 


Total. 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 
) 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


i 


1 


1 


1 


1 





VI. 


Vn. CAPITAL OUTLAY. PAMYENTS OF INDEBTEDNESS. [ 


Grand total 
current dis- 
bursements. 


Deprecia- 
tion of plant 
(estimated). 


Final grand 

total current 

disbursements. 


Land. 


New 
build- 
ing. 


.Additional 

equipment, 

alterations, 

etc. 


Total. 


Short 
time 
notes. 


Bonded 
princi- 
pal. 


1 
Debt 
inter- 
est. 1 

1 

I 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 1 


f 


1 


1 1 


1 


1 


1 1 


1 


1 


I 


1 1 


1 


1 


1 i i 



72 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

School boards that have been keeping accounts in accordance witli these 
forms report that their accounting has been mucli simplified and lias become 
more accurate and more valuable for administrative purposes, since they are 
now able to compare their expenses item by item with other cities. Any 
school system that bases its accounting upon these forms can present practically 
all the data needed for the purpose of aiding in administrative control. Besides 
keeping accounts to show unit costs, as previously suggested, the secretary 
of the school board should at the end of each month be able to show the true 
financial condition of the school district, presenting a statement of all assets 
and liabilities. He should also present for each item' appropriated a state- 
ment of the amount on hand at the beginning of the fiscal year, the amount 
received since the beginning of the year, and the total received to date, the 
amount expended since the beginning of the fiscal year, the amount expended 
during the present month, and total expenditures. He should include with 
the statement the amount contracted for during the balance of the year, the 
fixed charges, total, and the balance available. 

A property statement or invoice should be rendered once a year. This would 
include the value of grounds, buildings, equipment, books, and supplies. 

In brief, small city schools can not become as efl^icient as they should until 
they adopt some accounting system showing the disposal of every cent appro- 
priated from the time it is collected from the taxpayer to the time it is paid 
out for some service. 

There are many things about the schools other than about the finance that 
the school board, the superintendent, and the public need to know if the 
schools are to be administered so that they will constantly increase in efficiency. 
In a school system that is steadily improving in the quality of its work one will 
find that some of the things happening are: 

1. From year to year the school system will enroll a larger percentage of the 
children of school age and will carry them further along in the grades before 
they drop out. 

2. The number of over-age pupils and of pupils who are making slow progress 
through school will decrease. . 

3. There will be fewer and fewer failures in promotion, and fewer will drop 
out of school because they become discouraged and disheartened in their work. 

4. There will be much greater regularity in school attendance and fewer 
absences. 

5. There will be a decrease in the number of pupils per teacher until a reason- 
able limit has been reached. 

6. Teachers' qualifications will be advancing steadily, and the conditions under 
which they live and work will increasingly make for a more stabilized teaching 
force. 

7. When pupils do leave school it will be known why, and in the light of this 
information the work of the schools will be shaped to meet their needs better. 

8. Pupils will be followed up after they leave school in order to determine 
wherein their training could have been improved. 

9. Information will be compiled systematically about what other school 
systems are doing in order that the system in question may profit by the 
experience of others elsewhere. 

Among the facts that should always be at hand in the superintendent's 
office, in order that the school authorities may determine for themselves as 
to whether the system has been steadily improving or steadily declining, are 
the following: 



ACCOUNTING, RECOEDS, AND REPORTS. 73 

1. The nuinber of children at different ages in the city and the number 
in scliool, l)oth public and private. 

2. The number of compulsory attendance age in and out of school. 

3. The number above compulsory attendance age in and out of school. 

4. The ratio of pupils above compulsory attendance age to those of com- 
pulsory age. Changes in ratio. 

5. Number of pupils for each 100 beginners dropping out of school at each 
age and at each grade; number of those leaving to enter school elsewhere; 
number leaving for other causes. 

6. Per cent of those entering the first grade to complete the elementary- 
school course ; the high-school course. 

7. Per cent of those completing the elementary schools to enter high school. 

8. Per cent of those entering high school to complete the course. 

9. Per cent of high-school graduates who enter college. Kind of work done 
In college. 

10. The age-grade distribution of all pupils for each school and for the entire 
system, from which can be determined facts about retardation and acceleration 
of pupils. 

11. Attendance. Average daily attendance based on number belonging on 
school population ; distribution showing number and per cent attending 1 to 10 
days, 11 to 20, and so on. 

12. What those who have graduated from high school within 4, 5, or 10 years 
are doing, those who have graduated from the grammar school, those who left 
the elementary grades without graduating, those who left high school without 
graduating. 

13. Per cent of pupils who fail of promotion in each grade and in each subject. 

14. Ability of pupils as determined by school grades, standard, tests, and 
mental tests. 

15. Various cost items. 

16. Preparation, experience, and other significant facts regarding teachers. 

17. Significant facts regarding schools in other cities. 

Statistical information, and information of nonstatistical character about 
the system necessary to this end, is secured in large school systems by a group 
of experts who give their whole time to compiling and interpreting such facts ; 
in small systems the data should be collected by the superintendent through a 
carefully devised system of reports which he should require principals and 
teachers to file at stated intervals and which should be tabulated and made 
available by a clerk working under the direction of the superintendent. 

A complete set of records should be installed in every school system. Sam- 
ples of such records may be obtained from school publishing houses that make a 
specialty of publishing school record cards, bookkeeping blanks, and other ma- 
terial to assist superintendents in fiscal and child accounting. 

Just how the information that a superintendent collects and compiles regard- 
ing his school system may be made available to the public is a problem that 
he must solve better than he has in the past. The published annual report 
is one means, but it is read by comparatively few people, often not even by the 
members of the school board. However, those few who do read the report are 
no doubt interested in the schools. Its publication may possibly be justified 
on the grounds that a few interested persons read the report. The facts 
regarding the school systems should, however, be preserved in some permanent 
form, as in a published report, for future reference and comparison. Then, too, 
the superintendent's published report is about the only method of conveying in- 
formation regarding his schools to superintendents in other cities. The ex- 



74 ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS IN SMALLER CITIES. 

change of published reports is a real use, and in itself would justify their publi- 
cation. The good report is of value to students in schools of education and to 
others making studies of school conditions throughout the country. If a 
superintendent of schools has published a report giving the esential facts about 
his school system', he can use it in replying to most of the inquiries from students 
and others making special studies. 

At present, however, the great majority of the city school reports are useless 
either for the use of the school board, the public, or anyone else, in that they 
do not contain information showing what the schools have accomplished and 
what their needs are. Many of the reports contain nothing but a few items 
regarding attendance, list of high-school graduates, names of members of the 
board of education, and reports from the supervisors of special subjects. The 
financial report is usually given in totals and not in unit costs— in short, nothing 
that shows whether the schools are becoming more and more efficient, and if not 
why not. 

The superintendent who would succeed in permanently improving his schools 
must in some way inform the public of their needs. As Dr. Cubberley says : '" 
A policy of rapid expansion and increased expenditure is almost certain to 
end in disaster for the superintendent who is too busy making progress to take 
time to tell the people what he is doing and why. Sure and permanent progress 
is made only when the people understand what is being done, and the reasons 
for the increased cost. The people need to be stimulated by their school offi- 
cials to a desire for progress, and inspired with confidence that those who 
represent them are trustworthy and efficient. Only upon such confidence and 
cooperation can the work of public education long proceed. 

If the annual school report, however well prepared it may be, is not read by 
the public, some other means must be used to get the necessary information to 
the people. This can, no doubt, be best done through the columns of the city 
newspapers. The facts that the superintendent wishes presented should be 
carefully worked out and then written up under his direction. If the facts are 
given to a reporter to be written up, he should be requested to submit to the 
superintendent what has been written. Another means by which to inform the 
people regarding the schools is the mimeographed circular to be distributed 
among the parents. These circulars should consist of only a page or two, so 
that the busy parent will take the time to read them. Then in many other 
ways, easily discoverable, there may be kept up a constant process of dissemina- 
tion of news about the schools; as through talks before the chamber of com 
merce and other civic bodies in matters pertaining to education, through 
exhibits of the pupils' work, which will increase the collective interest and pride 
of the parents; through posters displayed in store windows to set forth sig- 
nificant things about the schools. 

To some superintendents this may seem like " advertising " themselves. It is, 
if they are selfishly thinking of themselves; but, if they are thinking of the 
schools, it is not advertising themselves but calling attention to what the schools 
are doing and what more they should do. 

A school system will not make progress unless the people are informed on 
educational matters. 

As Dr Frank F. Bunker well says in the school survey report of Columbia, 
S. C.:" 

A community thinks as individuals, and feels as individuals ; but, when it acts, 
it acts in its corporate capacity. Before it acts as a corporate body the indi- 
viduals constituting it must have thought to such purpose, and felt to such purpose, 
that a forceful minority at least have come to agreement. Then, and then only, 

20 Cubberley, E. P. Public School Administration, pp. 426-27. 
» U. S. Bu. of Educ. Bui., 1918, No. 28, pp. 27-29. 



ACCOUNTING, RECORDS, AND REPORTS. 75 

can the community in its corporate and legal capacity be expected to carry into 
execution the cherished proposal. Furthermore, a community, again in its cor- 
porate capacity, never acts until it Is compelled to act, especially when it comes 
to increasing taxes, for its representatives have been told in ways unmistakably 
plain that increasing taxes is a grievous matter, almost indeed as much to be 
feared as committing the " unpardonable sin." The first and necessary step then, 
in any plan contemplating increasing the maintenance income of the schools, or 
indeed of any other group or municipal activity, is to enlist the active interest 
of individuals, as many in number, and so representative in character, that their 
demand will irresistibly impel the community, as a corporate body, to take the 
desired action. 

It is a mistake to expect the men who chance at the moment to be the legal 
representatives of the community to take the desired action upon their own 
initiative. It is a mistake also to think that an appeal to them alone will suf- 
fice. They, as individuals, may be quite in accord with the proposal ; but, unless 
they can be shown that the project has won the ear of the community and that 
the community desires the requested action, they as the community's trustees 
and spokesmen can not, neither could they, commit the community to the plan. 
A community therefore, and its representatives also, may appear to be indifferent 
to a given matter ; whereas, in point of fact, those vitally concerned in it have 
not adopted the methods and taken the steps which are necessary to arouse the 
community to such interest that action will follow automatically and of necessity. 

Responsibility for the initiative in matters pertaining to the schools ought, of 
course, to rest with the board of education, the superintendent of schools, the 
principals, and the teachers. They know most about the kind of service which 
the schools are giving to the community; they are the ones who know^ most 
about the present and the future needs; in fact, the community expects these 
officers and teachers to take the lead in informing it of the schools' work, of 
their needs, and to suggest concrete plans for meeting these needs. 

It is not sufficient, therefore, if nothing more be done than for the board of 
education formally to request of the tax levying body an advance in rate. Those 
responsible must first present their case to the people who make up the commu- 
nity. When the people are convinced of the need, and are willing individually 
to be taxed to meet it, there will be no objection made when the matter is put 
up to the officials who fix the rate. The community in its corporate capacity 
will have spoken and action will inevitably follow. 

The established method of winning the active attention of a community is 
that of publicity ; and no opportunity for informing the people about their 
schools — their aims, their work, their cost, their problems — should ever be let 
go by. Through the columns of the local press, through bulletins issued on spe- 
cial phases of school work, through talks before civic bodies on matters pertain- 
ing to education, through exhibits of pupils' work which will arouse the collective 
interest and pride of the parents, through the medium of the parent-teachers' 
associations, and in many other ways easily discoverable, there can be kept up 
a constant process of dissemination of news about the schools. Furthermore, 
it must not be overlooked that the parents of the children who are in school are 
the people who make up the community group and who determine what tax- 
levying bodies shall do. It ought not to be a difficult matter to convince the 
parents of the educational needs of their own children, nor of the value of what 
the schools are doing, nor of the necessity for concerted action to secure relief. 



